Blackstone on Monday entered India’s healthcare sector when it announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Hyderabad-based Care Hospitals. The latter has in turn entered into an agreement to acquire a controlling stake in Kerala-based KIMS Healthcare.
While the deal size was not disclosed, it is learnt that Blackstone’s combined investment in both the transactions is above $1 billion.
The deals will see private equity funds managed by Blackstone acquiring a 72.5 per cent stake in Care Hospitals at an enterprise value of Rs 6,600 crore. This will be purchased from Evercare, a platform owned by TPG Rise funds.
In a separate transaction, Care Hospitals and TPG will reportedly acquire an 80 per cent stake in KIMS Healthcare for around $400 million from True North. Of this, Blackstone will put in $300 million and the rest will come from TPG. Following the deal, TPG will retain a significant minority stake in the joint platform.
The addition of KIMS Healthcare to the Care Hospitals network is expected to create one of India’s largest hospital platforms with 23 facilities across 11 cities in India. The combined platform will have more than 4,000 beds.
A press statement added that KIMS Healthcare will continue under the leadership of M.I. Sahadulla.
“We are pleased to make Blackstone’s first investment in India’s healthcare services sector and partner with TPG to create one of the largest healthcare platforms in India,” Blackstone Private Equity managing director Ganesh Mani said.
He added that Care Hospitals and KIMS Healthcare are trusted brands in the Indian healthcare space with a reputation of prioritising patients and have a track record of excellence in medical ethics and clinical outcomes.
“We aim to build a patient centric hospital platform focused on high clinical care quality and top-notch service,” Mani said.
Care Hospitals has a presence in Aurangabad, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Indore, Nagpur, Raipur and Visakhapatnam, while KIMS Healthcare Management Ltd is the biggest private healthcare entity in Kerala.
