Insights
How dental clinics are valued in Dubai
Licensed clinics and polyclinics in Dubai change hands on a dual track: the premises or lease through the DLD, the licence and business through the DHA (Sheryan) and the DET. Valuations are commonly expressed as a multiple of EBITDA (typically 3 to 5 times for established polyclinics) or of revenue for small practices; every deal is different. A single-chair practice whose profit depends on the principal is usually valued on revenue; a polyclinic with audited accounts, insurance panels and a stable team on normalised EBITDA. The premises are valued separately on DLD comparables. Reviewed 22 October 2026.
Why two valuations?
Because a clinic is two assets. The business, meaning the DHA facility licence, the patient base, the insurance panels, the team and the equipment, is valued on what it earns. The premises, freehold or leasehold, are valued on what comparable space has sold or let for, which the Dubai Land Department publishes transaction by transaction. Blending them produces a number nobody can check. Separating them lets the buyer see what they are paying for the right to practise and what they are paying for the room.
How is the business valued?
Established polyclinics: a multiple of EBITDA. Start with three years of audited profit and loss reconciled to bank statements. Normalise: add back the owner's above-market salary or one-off costs, deduct a market salary for any clinical work the owner does that a buyer would have to pay someone else for, deduct the gratuity accrual that has not been expensed, adjust for rent if the premises are owned. Apply a multiple that is typically 3 to 5 times for established polyclinics; every deal is different.
Small practices: a multiple of revenue. Where the principal produces most of the revenue and would leave on sale, the profit is not transferable and the valuation falls back to a revenue multiple, often with an earn-out or a transition period in which the seller stays on. The multiple depends on how much of the patient base will stay without them.
What moves the multiple?
- Quality of earnings. Audited beats management accounts. Revenue that reconciles to bank statements and insurance remittances beats revenue that does not.
- Revenue mix. A spread of cash, insurance and corporate contracts beats dependence on one payer; panel agreements that transfer beat ones that must be renegotiated.
- Owner dependence. The lower the principal's share of production, the closer to the top of the range.
- Team. Clinicians on current DHA permits with contracts and reasonable notice; a medical director who is staying or a clean continuity plan.
- Lease. Term remaining, renewal rights, landlord NOC to assign, and whether medical use is explicit.
- Regulatory file. A clean Sheryan good-standing report, NABIDH connected, equipment calibrated, FANR licence for radiology in date.
- Liabilities. Gratuity accrual, WPS history, open litigation, supplier contracts with long tails.
- Growth evidence. Recall performance, active patient count from the EMR, lead cost against patient acquisition cost.
How are the premises valued?
On comparable DLD transactions for similar commercial units in the same building or area, adjusted for fit-out. The buyer pays the DLD's 4% transfer fee on the property component; commercial purchases carry 5% VAT. Where the premises are leased, the lease is assigned rather than valued, and the fit-out is part of the business.
A worked illustration, not a deal
A polyclinic with normalised EBITDA of AED 3 million, audited accounts, four payers and a medical director staying on might be valued at AED 10.5 million to 15 million for the business at 3.5 to 5 times, plus the premises at their DLD comparable value. The same clinic with management accounts only, 70% of production by the departing owner and eighteen months left on the lease would be valued on revenue with an earn-out, and a buyer would be right to ask why the EBITDA figure should be believed at all. Illustrative figures, October 2026.
How the Golden Visa fits, and does not
Only the DLD-assessed value of real property counts toward the AED 2 million Golden Visa threshold. If the deal includes freehold premises valued at that level in the buyer's name, the property route applies; the business, goodwill and equipment do not count, however the purchase is structured.
What a seller should do a year before selling
Move to audited accounts; reduce the principal's share of production; renew the lease with an assignment right; close any DHA findings; calibrate everything; and document the insurance panels. Each of those moves the multiple more than any negotiation will.
Figures are indicative, dated and sourced where shown; they are not advice and not a guarantee. Dubaiesque is a broker, not a tax, legal, immigration or financial adviser. Take independent advice before you commit.
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