International Finance Corporation (IFC) has invested Rs 450 crore ($65.8 million) in Apollo Health & Lifestyle Ltd (AHLL) in return for a 29.03% stake, the company informed stock exchanges.
The investment values the firm at Rs 1,550 crore.
The investment will be channeled through IFC and IFC Asset Management Company, it said.
The World Bank's private-sector investment arm said it will put in $34 million for its own account and an equal amount for IFC's Asset Management Company, as reported by VCCircle in May.
The investment will fuel AHLL’s expansion plans, especially its clinics, cradles and diagnostics centres, the company said.
AHLL operates multi-specialty, diabetes, diagnostics and dental clinics; women and child hospitals as well as fertility, dialysis surgical centres across India, with a presence in 17 states and having over 400 touch points, according to the firm.
The Indian company plans to open 151 small-format healthcare centres, nine maternity facilities and 64 pathology labs, which will be supported by 765 collection centres, in several cities throughout south and east India. The total project cost is estimated to be about $135 million, IFC said in a disclosure in May.
“In the next five years, AHLL is looking at expanding Apollo Cradles, Apollo Diagnostics and Apollo Clinics. We currently service 10,000 customers daily, and this investment will help us expand to new cities,†Neeraj Garg, CEO, Apollo Health and Lifestyle, said in a statement.
“Given the immense potential and the need for quality healthcare delivery at affordable prices, Apollo Health and Lifestyle will continue to expand through organic and inorganic means,†said Sangeeta Reddy, joint managing director, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd.
Apollo Health is a unit of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise. Mumbai-listed Apollo Hospitals, founded in 1979 by Prathap C Reddy, is India's largest hospital chain. It also operates pharmacies and provides consulting, telemedicine and healthcare education and training services.
Reddy and family members own 34.4% of the hospital chain. Other significant shareholders include Integrated Healthcare Holdings (Mauritius) Ltd (10.9%), Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance (8.7%), and Apax Group (5.1%).
IFC makes both debt- and equity-style investments in India across sectors. In the healthcare sector, it has invested in Apollo rival Fortis Healthcare Ltd and Max Hospitals. It has previously also invested in eye-care firm Eye-Q Vision, dialysis chain NephroPlus, home healthcare firm Portea and diagnostics chain SRL.
In March this year, IFC came in as an anchor investor in Bangalore-based oncology chain HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. In April, it said it plans to invest Rs 61.5 crore ($9.45 million) in Kanpur-based healthcare services provider Regency Hospital Ltd.
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