Manipal Hospitals actively scouting for more acquisitions

Acquisition of Medica was entirely through internal accruals, which also involved taking over a small debt of about Rs. 100 crore. Future acquisitions may involve a mix of equity infusion, internal accruals and debt

Manipal Hospitals, India's largest hospital chain with 10,500 beds, considers the figure to be "insignificant" in the context of the country and is actively scouting for acquisitions, observed its top official.

The Singapore sovereign fund Temasek-backed Manipal Hospitals recently signed a binding agreement to acquire an 87 per cent stake in Kolkata-based hospital chain Medica Synergie, a deal involving about Rs. 1,400 crore helping it to become the largest hospital chain in India.

The Bengaluru-based healthcare provider will make exit offers to remaining shareholders to sell their stake but Manipal Hospitals does not see any hurdle in case existing minority shareholders continue to hold.

"Though 10,500 beds and 37 hospitals is a large number in the Indian context but it is still insignificant," Manipal Hospitals Managing Director & CEO Dilip Jose said after the announcement of the acquisition of Medica Hospitals.

"We want to continue to expand further in the eastern region, besides looking for opportunities in locations like Kerala, Vizag and Hyderabad. We are executing two greenfield hospitals-- one in Raipur and another in Rajarhat in Kolkata," he said.

Manipal also wants to add two hospitals in NCR (National Capital Region) and three more in Bangalore.

Speaking about the eastern region, Jose said the acquisition of Medica further consolidates Manipal's presence in this part of the country, adding facilities in Siliguri and Ranchi to their network.

"The journey started with a single hospital acquisition of 'Colombia Asia' three years back. In 2023, we acquired four hospitals of AMRI. Now we are the largest in the east with 1,500 beds and in the next three years, we will be a 2000-plus-bed hospital in Kolkata alone. This includes the 350-bed Rajarhat project and a brownfield expansion at AMRI (Dhakuria)," Jose said.

The Rajarhat project will cost Rs. 500 crore and construction will begin this fiscal or early next year.

The executive further said that with a significant presence in Kolkata, the healthcare provider was also looking for opportunities in other towns of West Bengal and eastern states to strengthen its presence in this region, which is "under-served" in high-quality healthcare, he said.

"Apart from consolidating our operations with rebranding AMRI and Medica, we will also continue to look for opportunities in other parts of eastern India," Jose stated.

Asked about funding the expansions and acquisitions, Jose said the acquisition of Medica was entirely through internal accruals which also involved taking over a small debt of about Rs. 100 crore.

"Now only 87 per cent (stake of Medica) was available to us. We will make an offer to the remaining shareholders to acquire 100 per cent. However, if the existing minority shareholders want to continue, we don't see any hurdle in it," Jose said.

The CEO of Manipal Hospitals, who led the company to exponential growth, says future acquisitions may involve a mix of equity infusion, internal accruals and debt.

"We don't have any pressure for any IPO though it is an option which we are not looking at right now as promoters have the assurance to arrange funds for good opportunities," Jose said.

Currently, Tamasek is the largest shareholder of Manipal Hospitals with 58 per cent, while the Manipal Group has reduced its stake to 30 per cent (after selling its stake in favour of Tamasek) and another PE fund TPG holds 11 per cent.