Richard Fleming, Mark Firmin and Ben Cairns of Alvarez & Marsal Europe LLP, the Joint Administrators of NMC Health PLC (LON:NMC), today announced the formation of a new Board of Directors. The immediate priority of the new Board is working with the Administrators to implement corporate governance changes in the Group.
The Administrators have appointed four new Non-Executive Directors with broad international restructuring experience to provide more robust governance and oversee the work with the management teams in the individual NMC businesses.
The previous Board of Directors ceased to have decision making powers with the appointment of the Administrators and have now all been removed from the Board.
The Administrators were appointed to NMC PLC by the High Court of England and Wales on 9 April 2020 following a petition presented by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, one of NMC’s largest creditors. The Administration applies only to NMC Health PLC, the holding company of the largest private healthcare group in the UAE.
The Administrators’ primary objective is to ensure the continuity of patient care, stability for staff and suppliers, and immediate financial security for NMC PLC’s operating companies. The operating entities are unaffected by the Administrators’ appointment and current activities will continue at NMC’s hospitals, medical centres, care facilities and other services.
The new Non-Executive Directors are Eli Chahin, Christopher Hall, Myles Halley and Philip Gore-Randall:
– Eli Chahin has more than 25 years of experience specialising in banking, management consulting and specifically financial restructurings across Europe and the Middle East. He has held various senior roles with ANZ Bank, Standard Chartered and AlixPartners where he has recently served as a Senior Advisor. He has held a number of Board appointments, including the Al Jaber Group, and currently serves on the Board of Bowleven PLC.
– Christopher Hall has worked in international business and the law for more than 30 years. He has also chaired and sat on the boards of several public and private companies. He is the Managing Partner of Oxford Investment Consultants, an advisory firm that identifies and invests in innovative technology companies being spun out of UK universities. Until 2017 he was a senior finance partner at Latham & Watkins, the global law firm.
– Myles Halley is a specialist in business transformation and restructuring. He is Chairman of a number of business including Airhop UK, operator of trampoline parks and William Davis, the housebuilder. He was previously a Senior Partner at KPMG and headed the firm’s restructuring practice in Australia.
– Philip Gore-Randall is a Chartered Accountant and former global COO of Arthur Andersen. He now chairs and advises several international groups including a leading forensic accounting firm, a healthcare services provider in Hong Kong and several businesses with significant operations in the Middle East. At the beginning of the global financial crisis he joined the Board of HBOS plc as COO where his roles included chairing the crisis management committee and leading the bank’s initial integration with Lloyds Bank.
Michael Brenden Davis remains in post as Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer but does not sit on the PLC Board; Simon Watkins remains Group Company Secretary. Nirman Shetty, Chief Operating Officer Distribution has left the business.
The following were removed from the Board: Faisal Belhoul, Ayesha Mohammed, Jonathan Bomford, Patrick James Meade, Salma Ali Saif Bin Hareb and Tarek Alnabulsi.
Richard Fleming, Joint Administrator of NMC Health PLC, said:
“We formed a new Board with extensive restructuring experience to ensure more robust standards of governance in NMC Health. The Board has already met to begin the detailed work necessary to create the governance platform in the Group supporting real stability for NMC’s operating businesses.
“Our immediate focus is also to work with the management teams in the operating companies to ensure that NMC’s doctors, nurses and care workers have everything they need, every day, as they work tirelessly to ensure continuity of care for patients, which is especially important as the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic.”
