In December 2016, NMC Healthcare, the largest private healthcare provider in the UAE announced acquisition of Sharjah based Al Zahra Hospital, a top multispecialty hospital. The board believed that the acquisition would complement the group's existing network of seven out-patient medical centres in Sharjah, the third most populated emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and would further strengthen the group's position as the leading integrated healthcare provider in the UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council (the GCC) region. As a part of the deal, NMC Healthcare would place up to 9.99% of the issued share capital of the company and would also set in place new debt facilities. The announcement of the proposed acquisition came in the backdrop of an extremely low merger and acquisition (M&A) activities in the healthcare sector in the region; both in terms of the number of deals closed and deal value. Further, with, IMF's forecast of an economic slowdown in the UAE in the forthcoming years and considering that NMC Healthcare had never done any acquisition of this mega size before, several questions remained to be answered. How the proposed acquisition would align with the group's overarching corporate growth strategy? What would be the strategic rationale for the acquisition and which critical areas the companies needed to integrate? What possible challenges could come up during the deal execution and how would NMC Healthcare be able to address the problems associated with the acquisition? Would NMC Healthcare's acquisition of Al Zahra Hospital be able to deliver the expected value in the coming days?