Service type: Corporate Due Diligence
Overview
A European healthcare company pursuing a strategic acquisition in the Algerian market engaged GIG to conduct corporate due diligence on the target entity — a mid-sized Algerian private healthcare group operating across multiple wilayat.
The client had identified the target through an intermediary and conducted preliminary commercial discussions, but had not yet undertaken any independent verification of the target's corporate structure, regulatory standing, or beneficial ownership before entering formal discussions.
The Challenge
Algeria's healthcare sector sits at the intersection of several high-risk due diligence dimensions. The sector is subject to heavy regulatory oversight by the Ministry of Health and the National Agency for Pharmaceutical Products.
Private healthcare operators in Algeria often have informal relationships with government agencies and public hospital structures — providing services, equipment, or personnel on terms that are not always documented — creating both regulatory and reputational risk for a foreign acquirer.
Beneficial ownership in Algerian private healthcare businesses is frequently complex, with founding family structures, nominee shareholder arrangements and undisclosed relationships with foreign capital providers.
What We Did
GIG conducted a corporate due diligence engagement structured around four workstreams.
The first was a corporate structure and ownership analysis, tracing the target's beneficial ownership through Algerian commercial registry records, overseas holding company filings where identified and primary source enquiries through GIG's Algeria network — producing a ownership structure map that extended three layers beyond the formal corporate documentation.
The second workstream assessed the target's regulatory standing with the Ministry of Health, the ANPP, and the relevant wilaya authorities. This included review of published regulatory records supplemented by network enquiries to identify any unpublished enforcement actions, licence conditions, or regulatory disputes not visible through official channels.
The third workstream examined the target's key principal individuals against GIG's standard integrity screening framework, assessing professional history, government relationships, litigation record and reputational standing within the Algerian healthcare sector.
The fourth workstream assessed the target's market position and commercial relationships, including the nature of its contracts with public health facilities, its pharmaceutical supply arrangements, and its relationships with the key institutional actors in the Algerian healthcare regulatory environment.
Outcome
The assessment identified an unresolved regulatory dispute with the ANPP that had not been disclosed during commercial discussions. After receiving independent legal advice on the matter, the client restructured the transaction as a phased investment with a reduced initial stake, with full acquisition conditional on resolution of the regulatory matter.
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