PureHealth appoints co-founder Shaista Asif as Group CEO

Dubai: Abu Dhabi-based PureHealth announced on Tuesday that Shaista Asif will helm the health conglomerate as its new Group CEO, taking over the role from Farhan Malik who has been named Managing Director. The announcement comes a day before PureHealth starts trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) after its record-breaking IPO.

Asif, who helped start PureHealth in 2006 along with founder Farhaan Malik, will move up from her role as Group Chief Operating Officer - a position she has held since 2010. Forbes Middle East ranked Asif ninth on the list of 100 Most Powerful Businesswomen in 2023.

During her time at PureHealth, Asif supervised multiple successful acquisitions including Abu Dhabi Health Services Co (SEHA), The National Rehabilitation Center (NRC), The National Health Insurance Co. (Daman), acquiring a stake in Ardent Healthcare and led the landmark acquisition of Circle Health Group, the first-of-its-kind healthcare acquisition by a UAE-based group in the UK, a deal worth more than Dh4.4 billion (US$ 1.2 billion).

In her role as Group Chief Operating Officer, Shaista Asif’s direction has been critical in leading PureHealth’s commitment to a sustainable future, becoming part of the United Nations-backed Race to Zero initiative for Climate Change, and pledging Net Zero emissions by 2040.

In January last year, ADQ signed a deal to merge its healthcare subsidiaries with Pure Health to create the largest healthcare provider in the Emirates. 

Pure Health now has more than 25 hospitals, 100 clinics, diagnostic centres, health insurance solutions, pharmacies, health technology platforms and procurement solutions.

In UAE's second biggest IPO offering after ADNOC, the PureHealth IPO - offering up 10 per cent of its capital - pulled in a whopping Dh265 billion helping the UAE stock market close out 2023 with quite a bang. Trading on ADX will start December 20 with a market cap of around Dh36.2 billion.