Mumbai-listed online travel services provider EaseMyTrip said Tuesday it is acquiring stakes in Rollins International, a healthcare consumer product maker, and home healthcare provider Pflege Home Healthcare.
EaseMyTrip will buy a 30% stake in Rollins for Rs 60 crore through a share swap. It will spend another Rs 30 crore in acquiring a 49% stake in Dubai-headquartered Pflege Home Healthcare, it said in a stock exchange filing.
With the twin deals, the online travel aggregator says it will extend its operations to the medical tourism market. The company provides hotel bookings, air tickets, domestic and international holiday packages, bus and train ticket bookings through its portal.
“These acquisitions align with EaseMyTrip’s mission to offer holistic travel solutions by integrating wellness and healthcare services into its service portfolio as medical tourism,” it said.
EaseMyTrip has been aggressive in its efforts to diversify its income streams since it listed on stock exchanges in March 2021.Of late, the company has also ventured away from its asset-light approach. In February, for instance, its board approved an investment of Rs 100 crore in Jeewani Hospitality Pvt. Ltd to set up a luxury hotel in Ayodhya, entering the hospitality business.
In an earnings call after its results for the fourth quarter of 2023-24, managing director Prashant Pitti said the company intended to still go forward through an asset-light model.
“This is a one-off event. We found a really good deal in the Ayodhya hotel,”said Pitti. “We want to basically play the game only in an asset-light manner where we don't have to prebook anything, pre-purchase anything, and there needs to be no delivery.”
However, earlier this month, the online travel platform said it was venturing into the electric bus manufacturing business through its new subsidiary Easy Green Mobility. It will partner with its subsidiary YoloBus, which will serve as its operating arm, and aims to operate over 2,000 electric buses in the country.
In fact, EaseMyTrip intends to invest Rs 200 crore for extensive research and development, product development, and setting up a manufacturing plant over the span of two-three years.
In January, the company set up a subsidiary EaseMyTrip Insurance Broker Pvt Ltd, foraying into the insurance market, a horizontal expansion of its services that also helps it leverage its base of more than 25 million users.
The company also added Guideline Travels Holidays, TripShope Travel Technologies, and Dook Travels, to its portfolio in the last year. While some of them follow its asset-light and online approach, the recent developments reflect more of a tangential growth strategy.
Pflege provides medical travel experiences abroad through offerings like doctor visits, nursing care at home, physiotherapy, and home-based medical equipment like ventilators and oxygen. It partners with medical institutions and hotel chains to handle all logistics from procedure coordination to travel, accommodation, and post-care support.
Meanwhile, Rollins offers gluten-free, lactose-free, and allergen-free food products, health supplements, and wellness therapies.
“It is a pivotal progression for us towards revolutionising medical tourism. With the growing demand for accessible, quality healthcare services, the acquisitions were necessary to meet the evolving needs of travellers seeking wellness and medical solutions,” Pitti said in a statement.
While its previous acquisitions fit broadly into what the company's offerings are, medical tourism and manufacturing buses will require more resources and time for the company to be successful.
Responding to a request for comment from VCCircle, a spokesperson for EaseMyTrip said the recent acquisitions will help the company to venture into medical tourism as well as in the Middle-East and countries that are part of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Asked how Rollins International fits in with its strategy, the spokesperson said that EaseMyTrip plans to integrate wellness services with medical procedures and create high-value, all-inclusive packages.
These packages will offer everything from surgery to post-operative care and wellness, making them more appealing to health-conscious travelers. Also, wellness centres will allow for personalized experiences through EaseMyTrip tailored to the specific needs of medical tourists, whether they seek relaxation before surgery or rehabilitation afterward, the spokesperson said.