National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) on Thursday said it has invested Rs 2,100 crore ($286.7 million) in multispeciality chain Manipal Hospitals.
The investment was made via NIIF Strategic Opportunities Fund, the quasi sovereign wealth fund’s direct private equity vehicle.
This is NIIF Strategic Opportunities Fund's first investment in the healthcare space. The direct private equity vehicle says it primarily focuses on sectors that are closely linked to India’s growth and benefit from the country’s demographics, consumption, investment, and policy trends.
Ranjan Pai, chairman of Manipal Education and Medical Group, said that the hospital chain continues on its path to reach many more geographies and under-served communities.
Bengaluru-based Manipal Hospitals operates and manages about 6,000 beds across 15 hospitals.
In November last year, it announced plans to fully acquire Columbia Asia Hospitals Pvt Ltd.
Previously in 2018, Manipal Hospitals proposed to buy Fortis Healthcare, which would have created India’s largest healthcare services provider by revenue. However, an aggressive bidding war ensued for Fortis, which finally got sold to Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare.
According to VCCEdge, Manipal Health Enterprises, the legal entity behind Manipal Hospitals, clocked net profit of Rs 55.7 crore on net sales of Rs 2160 crore for 2019-20. As per VCCEdge, the TPG Asia Buyout Fund holds a 21.48% stake in the company, while Temasek Holdings Advisors India Pvt Ltd has 18.11%.
