MUMBAI: VLCC, a global beauty and wellness brand, and Cigalah, a Saudi business house and healthcare services and products player, has announced a strategic partnership to launch VLCC Wellness centres in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), starting with Jeddah.

VLCC will be setting up its centers, starting with Jeddah, in partnership with Cigalah and will be offering the entire portfolio of weight management and beauty services, under one roof. The company plans to set up six VLCC Wellness centers in the Kingdom in the next three years, with the first one scheduled to open in Jeddah by November this year. It is estimated that a total investment of over AED 30 million (Rs 522.5 million) will go into setting up these centres.

VLCC Group chairman Mukesh Luthra said, “We have been very keen to enter the Saudi market and look forward to working to address the issues of obesity and overweight, which - in KSA too, as in most parts of the world - is increasingly become a public health hazard."

Cigalah Group Abdullah director Abdullah Yaser Naghi said: “Cigalah and VLCC see tremendous synergies and we look forward to working closely and making the residents of Saudi Arabia healthier and fitter.”

As per a survey released by Lancet in 2016, KSA is the third most obese nation in the world, after Malta and Switzerland, some of the reasons being unhealthy eating habits, sedentary lifestyle and lack of physical activity or exercise.