NMC Healthcare CEO: Rebranding wouldn’t solve trust issues after $4bn collapse

The answer, according to Chief Executive Officer David Hadley, was no.

“In theory, they should have renamed it and it would have been a lot easier,” Hadley said. “We should have been called something else and they should have stayed as NMC, then everyone would understand that they are two different companies.”

Instead, the UAE-based hospital group has kept the NMC name, despite the reputational damage caused by its collapse in 2020, betting that change and transparency will do more to restore trust than a new product.

“Changing the name doesn’t fix the business,” Hadley said. “Systems, governance and culture do.”

A sign burdened with shame

Founded in 1975, NMC grew to become the largest private healthcare provider in the UAE and listed in London in 2012, reaching a peak value of over $10 billion. That growth unraveled in late 2019, when short-seller Muddy Waters alleged that the company was overstocking and underperforming.

NMC later disclosed more than $4 billion in previously hidden loans, prompting it to go into administration, delisting from the London Stock Exchange and a series of lawsuits involving banks, auditors and former managers.

The founder of this company, BR Shetty, denied that he made a mistake and said that he was misled by others inside the organization. Legal action linked to the holding company is ongoing in the UK, including a major lawsuit against auditor EY.

The active healthcare business that survived the collapse now sits under a separate structure held by creditors following a debt swap, led by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Hadley, who took over the day-to-day leadership in early 2023, emphasized that the current business is legally and financially tied to the old company.

“If NMC Limited in London wins the court case, that money does not come to us,” he said. “We can’t build hospitals with that, it’s completely different. There are Chinese walls between us.”

Yet the shared name continues to blur differences in the public eye.

“In theory, they should have renamed it,” Hadley said. “Unfortunately, they have the same name, except for the acronyms at the end.”

Why did the management keep the name

The decision not to reproduce reflected the realities of the UAE market, where patient loyalty is often tied more to doctors, locations and accessibility than corporate ownership structures.

“People trusted doctors even when everything else was going wrong,” said Hadley. “The patients trusted the doctors. The pot kept boiling.”

NMC remains one of the few private healthcare groups with facilities in all seven emirates, serving blue and white collar workers. In Abu Dhabi in particular, this brand still carries decades of recognition.

“People are loyal to NMC, especially in Abu Dhabi,” Hadley said. “Dubai is very small, the northern emirates are very small, but there is a legacy behind it.”

Administrators concluded that dropping the name risked disrupting those patient relationships without addressing the deeper issues revealed by the fallout.

“The rebranding may make things look cleaner on the outside,” said one senior official familiar with the negotiations. “But it wouldn’t destroy trust with regulators, insurers or workers.”

Rebuilding credibility from within

Instead of innovation, management focused on rebuilding credibility through governance changes, financial controls and operational restructuring.

When Hadley joined, labor costs stood at about 30 percent, suppliers wanted to be paid in advance and insurers were reluctant to negotiate taxes. “No one trusted the NMC,” he said. “Regulators didn’t trust us, suppliers didn’t trust us, insurance companies didn’t trust us, we’re struggling to attract talent.”

One of the most visible changes was the release of a comprehensive enterprise resource planning system, replacing piecemeal and largely manual financial reporting. The program came into effect in September 2024.

“It was a very quick performance by Oracle in this region,” Hadley said.

The company has also appointed PwC as auditor. “They were very strong,” Hadley said, noting that the more than 200 titles in the company’s accounts have been whittled down to a small number.

Governance structures were restructured, with new committees, a strengthened team and an ethical reporting line introduced across the group.

“We had to put plans in place so that something like this doesn’t happen again,” said Hadley.

Internally, the changes seem to have stabilized the workforce. The number of employees has dropped to about 10 percent, in line with regional health care standards, according to management.

“Nobody wants to work for a company they’re not proud of,” said Hadley. “People bought into the changes easily.”

Reputation is still a work in progress

Despite operational progress, the decision to retain the NMC name continues to be considered, especially as the group assesses growth and eventual exit options for its bank owners.

“There’s not a day that goes by that someone doesn’t ask who’s buying us,” said Hadley, referring to the ongoing market speculation.

Hw accepts that the name will continue to attract questions, and that trust will need to be earned over time.

“In health care, reputation is not rebuilt overnight,” Hadley said. “It’s built around consistent delivery.”

A rebrand is still being considered, but Hadley said it’s not specific to a health group with deep community roots.

“It’s something we’re looking into,” he said. “But it’s not that easy.”

For now, the NMC leadership seems content to face its past openly, rather than trying to erase it with a new identity.

“Changing the name would have been easy,” Hadley said. “But it wouldn’t fix the business.”