Manipal Health Enterprises Ltd, the healthcare arm of Manipal Group, has entered the market in Rajasthan by acquiring SK Soni Hospital in Jaipur for an undisclosed amount. The 280-bed hospital will be rebranded as Soni Manipal Hospital.
“This development is a part of our ongoing growth strategy to expand footprint in India and identified countries of Middle East, Africa and ASEAN. We are executing on this growth strategy by adding to our capacity. This development is coming soon after the recent acquisition of an operational hospital and also building a new one in Kuala Lumpur,” said Swami Swaminathan, executive chairman of Manipal Health Enterprises.
The group acquired a 72-bed hospital in Kuala Lumpur last year where it plans to raise its capacity to 200 beds. As part of its expansion in Rajasthan, the company plans to invest Rs 100 crore in its operations in the city, a company release said.
“Manipal is a well-established name in Jaipur, with the presence of Manipal University, Jaipur. This is Manipal Hospitals’ first healthcare foray into North India,” said Rajen Padukone, managing director and CEO of the Manipal Health Enterprises.
In an earlier interaction with VCCircle, Padukone said that the company plans to invest up to Rs 1,500 crore for its expansion which could see an addition of around 7-12 more hospitals to its current network of 15 hospitals which operate around 5,000 beds in India and abroad.
Manipal Health Enterprises raised and has access to about $200 million from three private equity players that invested in it, including IDFC Alternatives, Kotak Private Equity and India Value Fund.
The healthcare space which has seen emergence of corporate players like Apollo, Fortis, DM Healthcare and Max among others, has seen strong private equity interest and a lot of M&A activity. The recent investments in this space include OrbiMed investing in Asian Institute of Medical Sciences, Cloudnine Hospitals securing investment from Sequoia and Matrix among others.
The M&A deals in the space include KIMS Hospital acquiring two hospitals and Moolchand Healthcare acquiring Pankaj Hospital for $6.4 million.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
