Skip to main navigation or content
You are here:
The latest vehicle of ex-England spin bowler Phil Edmonds bounced onto Aim this morning, and in a departure from his previous resources focus, this time he is aiming to build a medical services company in Africa through his latest shell, African Medical Investments.
Advertising
As a Zambian, and with a Zimbabwean business partner in Andrew Groves, Mr Edmonds knows Africa well and has had varying degrees of success with his previous Aim floats, most famously White Nile. Now he has spotted an opportunity in providing medical care in Africa to expatriates and workers of major mining companies as well as other international businesses.
Mr Edmonds reckons he can see 'a whole panoply' of business opportunities in Africa ranging from resources to services to infrastructure and property. "We took the view around the turn of the century that Africa had been severely underinvested in for decades and decades," he says. In the medical sector, he sees a "great need" for medical facilities to serves expats and a growing middle class.
African Medical Investments is currently just a shell, with £5m raised from Mr Edmonds' loyal band of followers. Discussions have taken place with potential acquisitions, but no due diligence has been undertaken yet. Mr Edmonds sees a huge need for trauma centres and will aim at this segment of the market to begin with, rather than hospitals themselves. At least 12 situations have been identified where a 20-30 bed trauma centre is required.
Acquisitions are likely, although Mr Edmonds cited people as the most important resource he could discover with this venture: "Management is everything, management is of paramount importance". This suggests he is on the lookout for people - possibly to incentivise through share ownership - rather than established businesses.
Its early days in this venture but Mr Edmonds is an old hand now at this game and has a loyal band of followers for whom he has made good returns in the past - which means any subsequent share issues are likely to be supported. One to watch.
Read more SmallWorld columns, devoted to smaller companies and their managers, on the SmallWorld page
Read more articles and share tips for Aim companies on the Aim companies page.
Send us your views using the form on the Your Opinion page.
The UK’s No.1 Stockbroker
Access a selection of share tips, comprehensive company analysis and full financial data on listed companies. Plus portfolio tools with advanced alerts when you register for free here.
Advertorial Feature
Have you ever watched a move in the markets that you saw coming, but you weren't able to exploit?
by Dominic Picarda
Advertorial Feature
With so many big moves in the world's financial markets, there have seldom been more opportunities around for spread traders. Isn't it time you joined them?
by Dominic Picarda
© The Financial Times Limited 2008. All rights reserved. "Investors Chronicle", "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of The Financial Times Limited. No part of these web pages may be reproduced or transmitted to or stored in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the editor.
Warning: Do remember, particularly if you are new to stock market investment that the prices of shares and other investments can fall sharply. You may not get back the money you originally invested. The material here is for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for individual investment decisions. Take independent advice before making such decisions. This site is aimed at UK residents only. To read more please see our Important Warning
-IC-1.5.4a-prod - 31/10/2008 13:11:34 - carlos.princz
