Now Health International and Best Doctors Insurance to Create a Leading Global International Private Medical Insurance (“IPMI”) Proposition

HONG KONG and MIAMI, April 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

IPMI provider Now Health International (http://nowhealth-bestdoctors.com) today confirms that their investor, the Primary group, subject to relevant approvals, has reached an agreement to acquire Best Doctors Insurance, a major medical insurance provider with distribution throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada.

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The transaction will create a global top tier specialist IPMI proposition with complementary products, distribution and geographies as well as shared quality service principles. The pro-forma operation will span four continents, with 12 sales/service offices, 100,000+ members, 300+ staff and 5,000+ distribution partners.

Now Health is one of the fastest growing providers of IPMI solutions for Global Expatriates, High-Net-Worth individuals and Small to Medium Sized Enterprises across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Now Health currently has no operations in the Americas. Just four years old and with more than 130 years of collective IPMI management experience, Now Health already has offices in the UK, DubaiHong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Beijing, with Jakarta and Abu Dhabi coming soon.

Bermuda based Best Doctors Insurance, with service centres in Miami, Guayaquil (Ecuador) and Toronto, is owned by Best Doctors Inc. (Boston, MA) whose core business focuses on utilizing innovative technologies to provide second medical opinion services - helping leading corporates and insurance companies procure the right diagnosis and the right treatment for their employees and members. Best Doctors Insurance has been a specialist major medical insurance provider for more than 20 years, catering predominately for High-Net-Worth individuals and Global Expatriates residing across Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada. Their members appreciate the ability to access a wide range of local and international healthcare facilities.

"This is a highly complementary transaction for Now Health International  and our investor Primary Group, as  Best Doctors Insurance will fill a large void in our global emerging market strategy. Over  time, as the respective operations converge to deliver increased scale and efficiency, our  members, distributors and staff will benefit most. We're all very excited about the possibilities that this combined proposition will bring to the market," said Martin Garcia, CEO, Now Health International.

David Seligman, Chairman and CEO, Best Doctors Inc. commented, "The Best Doctors Insurance business has grown well beyond our hopes and expectations. We're very proud of what the team has achieved. I'm confident that Martin  and the Now Health  team share our commitment to delivering the highest quality customer experience. They appreciate the dedication and tireless efforts of their distribution partners and they invest in their technology and people to achieve great outcomes. Best Doctors looks forward to continuing to support the business with the ongoing provision of InterConsultation^® service."

"This is an exceptional opportunity to bring together two of the most customer centric and innovative IPMI providers in the market today," said Per Bay Jorgensen, Now Health International Non-Executive Director and ex-CEO of IHI Danmark.

Benefits of the transaction include:  

• Highly complementary transaction, across regions, distribution channels, management experience and local insight, capital structures, product knowledge and construction. In addition, management share a vision of delivering service excellence to meet ever evolving customer needs.
• World-wide  geographic  footprint, distribution access across Asia Pacific, Central and Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. An enhanced customer proposition across the largest and most dynamic emerging markets. Accelerated financial performance and natural diversification will help deliver an attractive weighted loss ratio profile for any re/insurance partners.
• Cutting edge technology platform, leveraging purpose-built, 'single customer view', scalable technology to deliver operational efficiencies and enable enhanced product features, benefits and pricing for members and distributors.