APOLLOHOSP

March 4 (Reuters) - Ion Beam Applications SA IBAB.BR:

• IT AND APOLLO HOSPITALS SIGN A TERM SHEET FOR ONE PROTEUS ONE SYSTEM PLUS A SECOND ONE IN OPTION TO BE INSTALLED IN INDIA

• AHEL EXPECTS TO START TREATING PATIENTS WITH THE PROTEUS®ONE SYSTEMS BY 2028

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By Bhanvi Satija, Kashish Tandon and Rishika Sadam

HYDERABAD Feb 27 (Reuters) - India should take a page from the playbook of countries such as China and Australia if it wants a larger share of the global clinical trials market, healthcare experts said at an industry conference.

As of 2022, India held an 8% share in global clinical trials - which evaluate the safety and effectiveness of new treatments - compared to China's 29%, the U.S.'s 25%, and 38% for the rest of the world, data from consultancy PwC showed.

"There's a lot to learn from what other countries have done to make them clinical trial destinations," BCG India partner Smruthi Suryaprakash said, pointing out that China saw an increase in innovation after easing regulations, while Australia has benefited from offering significant tax incentives.

India's clinical trials research market is rapidly expanding, supported by a diverse patient base, cost-effective solutions, and a growing hospital network, according to U.S.-based GrandView Research, which forecasts revenues exceeding $2 billion by 2030.

"India will be able to capture the clinical trial (market) if we can really work on the speed. I think speed is what is really important to sponsors, either with regulator or being able to recruit patients faster," Suryaprakash added.

Suryaprakash, along with other experts, was speaking as part of a panel at the BioAsia conference in the southern Indian state of Telangana.

Rajeev Raghuvanshi, who heads India's drug regulator, said it was working to make the regulatory process more streamlined for global trials in India, based on feedback from stakeholders.

"We have aligned things every year on average for the last three years," the drugs controller general of India said.

The agency which revamped its trial rules in 2019, had approved about 160 trials in the last three years, he added.

RECRUITING THE RIGHT PATIENTS

Allowing sponsors to raise awareness among patients, such as through advertisements of ongoing studies, would also help India advance as a recruitment site, the experts said.

Advertising studies for experimental treatments could be helpful, especially for patients with rare diseases without many treatment options. It is a common practice in countries such as the U.S. and the U.K.

"You're not able to recruit into the trial because they (patients) do not know that it exists," said Padmaja Lokireddy, an oncologist at Apollo Hospitals APLH.NS.

That needs to change, experts said.

Some other experts highlighted challenges related to preparing a clinical trial site, ensuring it meets global safety standards and recruiting the right patients.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija, Kashish Tandon and Rishika Sadam in Hyderabad; Editing by Manas Mishra, Dhanya Skariachan and Tasim Zahid)

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Feb 10 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• Q3 CONSOL NET PROFIT 3.72 BILLION RUPEES; IBES EST. 3.51 BILLION RUPEES

• Q3 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 55.27 BILLION RUPEES; IBES EST. 55.23 BILLION RUPEES

• DIVIDEND 9 RUPEES PER SHARE

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Dec 24 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE - HEALTHCO TO ACQUIRE SOFTWARE BUSINESS FROM SEARCHLIGHT HEALTH

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE - DEAL VALUED AT 675 MILLION RUPEES

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Nov 29 (Reuters) - India's Aster DM Healthcare ATRD.NS will merge with Blackstone-backed hospitals operator Quality Care India, the companies said on Friday, bringing Aster closer to its larger rivals Apollo Hospitals and Manipal Hospitals.

This is Aster's first major deal since selling its Gulf business. The company will get access to Quality's 5,500 beds, taking the merged entity's total bed count to more than 10,000.

The acquisition will bring Aster's domestic capacity close to that of market leader Apollo Hospitals APLH.NS and the privately-held Manipal Hospitals, making it one of the top three hospital chains in the country.

The merged entity, which will be called Aster DM Quality Care, plans to add another 3,500 beds by fiscal year 2027, funded through internal accruals. Earlier this year, Aster laid out plans to spend up to $108 million to boost its domestic capacity across the 19 hospitals it runs in India.

The combined entity will be jointly controlled by Aster's top shareholders and Blackstone, with respective holdings of 24% and 30.7%. The company did not specify the size of the deal.

Post the merger, Aster's shareholders will hold a 57.3% stake in the combined firm, with Quality Care - which operates CARE Hospitals, KIMS Health and Evercare hospital chains in India - owning the rest.

Azad Moopen, Aster's founder and managing director, will continue in his role and oversee the merged entity, while Varun Khanna, MD of Quality Care, will helm the merged entity as the CEO, the two companies said.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

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Nov 6 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• Q2 CONSOL NET PROFIT 3.79 BILLION RUPEES; IBES EST. 3.64 BILLION RUPEES

• Q2 CONSOL REV FROM OPS 55.89 BLN RUPEES; IBES EST. 55.13 BLN RUPEES

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Nov 1 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• UNIT PROPOSES TO ESTABLISH A 500 BED HOSPITAL IN WORLI MUMBAI

• APOLLO MEDICS PROPOSES TO EXPAND HOSPITAL IN LUCKNOW TO 500 BEDS FROM 300 BEDS

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Aug 21 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• APOLLO HOSPITALS - INDIA COMPETITION REGULATOR CCI APPROVED ACQUISITION BY ADVENT IN APOLLO HEALTHCO

• APOLLO HOSPITALS - CCI ALSO APPROVED ACQUISITION BY CO IN KEIMED PVT LTD

• APOLLO HOSPITALS - CCI ALSO APPROVED MERGER OF KEIMED INTO AHL

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Aug 13 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE Q1 CONSOL NET PROFIT 3.05 BILLION RUPEES

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE Q1 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 50.86 BILLION RUPEES

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May 30 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE Q4 CONSOL NET PROFIT 2.54 BILLION RUPEES; LSEG IBES PROFIT EST. 2.65 BILLION RUPEES

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE Q4 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 49.44 BILLION RUPEES; LSEG IBES EST. 49.43 BILLION RUPEES

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE LTD - DIVIDEND OF 10 RUPEES PER SHARE

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE YEAR AGO Q4 CONSOL PROFIT 1.45 BILLION RUPEES, REVENUE 43.02 BILLION RUPEES

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE LTD - REAPPOINTMENT OF PRATHAP C REDDY AS AN EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

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April 29 (Reuters) - Shares of India's Apollo Hospitals Enterprise APLH.NS fell as much as 8.4% on Monday, after the hospital chain sold a stake in its digital unit in a deal that brokerages said undervalued the subsidiary.

The stock trimmed some losses and was last down 4.5%, set for its worst day since June 2, 2022. The stock was the second biggest percentage loser on India's bluechip Nifty 50 index .NSEI, which was last up 0.65%.

Apollo Hospitals, the country's largest hospital chain by bed capacity, said on Friday that Advent International will invest nearly $297 million in its digital unit Apollo HealthCo. The hospital chain will also merge its online pharmacy business with pharmacy distributor Keimed. Advent will own a 12.1% stake in the merged entity.

The valuation of Apollo HealthCo from the investment is smaller-than-expected, brokerages Nuvama Institutional Equities, Jefferies, CLSA and Prabhudas Lilladher said.

"HealthCo's $1.7 billion valuation came as a negative surprise since $2.7 billion was expected, and management also accepted that (Apollo's pharmacy business) 24/7 did not receive the valuation it deserved," analysts at Nuvama said in a note.

Apollo HealthCo, which includes offline, online pharmacies and a tele-medicine business, has been pressuring the hospital operator's bottom line, hurt by its cash-guzzling business Apollo 24/7.

The fundraise and the merger with Keimed are positive, as they will enable Apollo HealthCo to expand as an integrated pharmacy player while not having to worry about cash burn, the analysts said.

Nuvama, Jefferies, and Prabhudas Lilladher maintained their "buy" rating on Apollo Hospitals' stock while CLSA kept its "outperform" rating.

The stock's rating on an average is "buy", per LSEG data, with the average price target at 6,953.5 rupees, 14% higher than its current price of 5,979 rupees.

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam and Varun Hebbalalu; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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April 26 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE - APPROVAL FOR PRIMARY INVESTMENT OF 24.75 BILLION RUPEES BY RASMELI INTO APOLLO HEALTHCO

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE LTD- APOLLO 2417 TO RAISE 24.75 BILLION RUPEES FROM ADVENT INTERNATIONAL

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE LTD- TO MERGE KEIMED WITH APOLLO 2417

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE LTD- ADVENT SHALL INVEST IN COMPULSORY CONVERTIBLE INSTRUMENTS OVER 2 TRANCHES TO SECURE 12.1 % STAKE IN MERGED ENTITY

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE LTD- ADVENT VALUING COMBINED ENTITY AT AN ENTERPRISE VALUE OF 224.81 BILLION RUPEES

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE LTD- KEIMED SHAREHOLDERS WOULD HOLD A MAXIMUM OF 25.7% STAKE IN COMBINED ENTITY

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE LTD- AHEL WOULD CONTINUE TO REMAIN LARGEST CONTROLLING SHAREHOLDER WITH AT LEAST 59.2% STAKE

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE LTD- MERGER WITH KEIMED IS ESTIMATED TO BE EPS ACCRETIVE FROM YEAR 1

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Added business expansion plan, background

BENGALURU, March 20 (Reuters) - Indian hospital chain Aster DM Healthcare ATRD.NS said on Wednesday it plans to spend up to 9 billion rupees (about $108 million) to expand domestically as it nears the completion of selling its Gulf business.

Aster said it aims to be among the top three hospital chains in India and expects to add about 1,500 beds by fiscal 2027 to the 4,857 beds it currently has across 18 hospitals in the country.

In contrast, Apollo Hospitals APLH.NS, India's largest private hospital chain, has more than 10,000 beds across over 70 hospitals, while Manipal Health has 33 hospitals with more than 9,500 beds.

Aster said it would expand its presence both by building new hospitals and by boosting the capacity at existing centres, it said.

Last November, Aster agreed to sell a majority stake in its Gulf business, which accounts for about 75% of its overall revenue, to a consortium led by private equity firm Fajr Capital.

After a proxy advisory firm threatened to scuttle the deal, Aster said it would distribute about 70%-80% of the $903 million net proceeds from the sale to shareholders.

The Fajr Capital-led consortium got local anti-trust clearance and approvals from key partners for the deal, Aster said, without specifying when it expects the deal to close.

While India accounted for only a quarter of Aster's total revenue in the third quarter, the growth in the region outpaced the revenue growth in the Gulf.

Since announcing the deal in late November, Aster's shares have jumped nearly 32% through their close on Wednesday.

($1 = 83.1430 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)

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March 19 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE LTD - APOLLO APPOINTS MADHU SASIDHAR AS PRESIDENT & CEO, HOSPITALS DIVISION

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By Aby Jose Koilparambil and Rishika Sadam

Dec 21 (Reuters) - India's prominent hospital chains are shifting their focus to smaller centres and facilities as they chase growth in the booming healthcare market while coping with higher real estate costs and a dearth of land space in its cities.

Though healthcare facilities are still in short supply in most parts of India, and especially so in its towns and smaller cities, patients in the world's most populous nation are showing a greater preference for specialised-but-accessible amenities in the post-COVID pandemic era.

That trend is expected to form the bedrock of demand in the Indian healthcare market, which, according to forecasts by global consulting firms Boston Consulting Group and B Capital, is expected to grow near three-fold over eight years to $458 billion in 2030.

"We don't build facilities with 600-700 beds anymore as you have to be catering to a micro market," Temasek-owned Manipal's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Dilip Jose said, highlighting how India's second-largest hospital chain plans to focus on units with 250-325 beds.

The change is also reflective of infrastructure issues.

"Metro Indian cities are too large and the traffic at these cities is making it difficult for people for travel to one large hospital," said a spokesperson at children's-hospital chain Rainbow RAIB.NS.

That is forcing hospitals to evaluate "micro markets" within the cities and build smaller hospitals to cater to them.

India has 1.3 beds per 1000 people, well below the World Health Organization recommended ratio of 3 per 1000, indicating it needs 2.4 million additional beds, a study by property consultancy Knight Frank and its US partner Berkadia showed.

It needs an additional 2 billion square feet of healthcare space to cater to its 1.42 billion people, the study said.

CHANGING TACK

Healthcare providers are also looking to get more bang for their buck.

"Bringing the services closer to the customers is to a large extent also driven by the economies of scale, which best works up to a sizing of 300-350 beds," said Saurabh Mehrotra, executive director, valuation and advisory at Knight Frank India.

Some hospital chains such as Fortis Healthcare FOHE.NS, partly owned by Malaysia's IHH Healthcare IHHH.KL, are shifting gears to cope with volatile real estate prices.

Fortis is relying mostly on "brownfield" sites, or land that has previously been built on, rather than land that has yet to be developed, while expanding.

"This approach allows us to efficiently advance our expansion plans without the burden of fluctuating land prices," Fortis MD and CEO Ashutosh Raghuvanshi said.

Manipal will rely on the "smaller is better" formula while expanding in metros such as Hyderabad and Pune, and Tier 2 cities in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, CEO Jose said.

India's largest private hospital chain Apollo Hospitals APLH.NS aims to add 2,860 beds over the next three years, including in Tier 2 cities such as Mysore and Varanasi, while Rainbow will focus on expanding in the smaller cities of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Some of the larger Indian healthcare providers are also moving to an asset-light strategy, keeping the land and building out of their books, according to Knight Frank's Mehrotra, forcing commercial property firms to change too.

"Now, the developers are more amenable to build-to-lease and have a 20-30-year contract with a visibility on cash flow than to build with a purpose to sell," the Rainbow spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru and Rishika Sadam in Hyderabad; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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Dec 6 (Reuters) -

• INDIA HEALTH MINISTRY OFFICIAL SAYS APOLLO HOSPITAL’S INVOLVEMENT IN ALLEGED ILLEGAL TRANSPLANTS REQUIRES "DEEP INVESTIGATION"

• INDIA HEALTH MINISTRY OFFICIAL SAYS APOLLO’S INVOLVEMENT IN ALLEGED ILLEGAL TRANSPLANTS REQUIRES CONCRETE EVIDENCE BEFORE TAKING ANY ACTION

• INDIA’S DELHI GOVT SAYS "INITIATING PROBE" ON APOLLO HOSPITALS IN CAPITAL FOR ALLEGED ILLEGAL KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS - OFFICIAL

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Nov 9 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• INDIA’S APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE Q2 CONSOL NET PROFIT 2.33 BILLION RUPEES

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE YEAR AGO Q2 CONSOL PROFIT 2.04 BILLION RUPEES, REVENUE 42.51 BILLION RUPEES

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE Q2 CONSOL REV FROM OPS 48.47 BLN RUPEES

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Sept 27 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• UNIT ACQUIRED ASSETS RELATING TO A PARTIALLY BUILT HOSPITAL IN SONAPUR, KOLKATA

• COST OF ACQUISITION 1.02 BILLION RUPEES

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BENGALURU, Aug 14 (Reuters) - India's Aster DM Healthcare ATRD.NS reported a nearly 93% fall in its first-quarter profit on Monday, its fourth straight quarterly profit fall, dragged by losses from its new hospitals and a one-time tax expense.

The company's consolidated net profit fell to 49 million rupees (nearly $590,000) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with 685.4 million rupees a year earlier.

Aster DM's new hospitals, including Aster Royal Hospital Muscat and Aster Narayanadri Tirupati, reported losses of 290 million rupees for the June quarter, the company said.

Additionally, it had a deferred tax expense of 440 million rupees during the quarter.

The company's profit before tax fell 14% to 732.5 million rupees as a nearly 20% rise in its expenses weighed.

Revenue from the hospital segment rose 23.5% to 18.78 billion rupees during the quarter. This is Aster's biggest segment, accounting for more than 58% of its total revenue.

Revenue from operations rose 21% to 32.15 billion rupees.

Peer Apollo Hospitals Enterprise APLH.NS also reported a bigger-than-expected fall in first-quarter profit on Friday, dragged by operating costs related to its digital healthcare platform.

Shares of Aster DM closed 0.4% lower ahead of the results.

($1 = 83.0600 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

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Aug 11 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• INDIA'S APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE Q1 JUNE-QUARTER CONSOL NET PROFIT 1.67 BILLION RUPEES

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE Q1 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 44.18 BILLION RUPEES

• APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISE YEAR AGO Q1 NET PROFIT 3.17 BILLION RUPEES, REVENUE 37.96 BILLION RUPEES

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Repeats 0444 GMT story, no change to text

By M. Sriram

PUNE, India, June 30 (Reuters) - In Pune city, Indira IVF is teeming with patients ready to spend $1,300 on fertility treatments that few government hospitals offer, reflecting the huge demand for private health care sweeping India, fueled partly by the scary pandemic experience.

Spotting the trend, global investors are scouting the Indian market, and banking and industry sources counted at least nine healthcare chains that are currently in talks to sell stakes.

The economic and demographic changes underway in India led global consultancy PwC to forecast 12-14% annual growth for a private healthcare market currently worth around $48 billion.

"We are seeing more heightened activity than ever before," said Rana Mehta, who leads PwC's India's healthcare practice, adding that he is currently working with more than a dozen private equity (PE) clients on potential deals.

A spokesperson for Indira IVF, which has 115 fertility clinics in India, said it was in the "early stages" of talks over a stake sale.

According to an investor source, it is looking to sell a majority stake valued at $1 billion, and global private equity firm General Atlantic was among the interested parties.

General Atlantic did not respond to a request for comment.

Even in the world's most populous country, many couples need fertility treatment, which is why the Indira IVF chain has become an attractive proposition for potential suitors, as have other specialist healthcare providers.

CARE Hospitals Group, according to another investor source, is in talks to sell a 70% stake to U.S. investment giant Blackstone BX.N in a deal valued at $800 million. CARE has 16 facilities in seven cities, and offers top-end 3D laparoscopic surgeries and kidney transplants.

Blackstone declined to comment and CARE did not respond to requests for comment.

MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN EVER

As government hospitals became increasingly overburdened and incomes rose in India's vast middle class, demand for private healthcare rose over the years.

But demand positively boomed in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, when India suffered one of the world's worst death tolls from the virus.

"The India healthcare opportunity has always been attractive, but never more than now. COVID accelerated awareness," said Gaurav Sharma, a partner of Bahrain-based Investcorp in Mumbai.

After investing $67 million in India's Clove Dental chain last year, Investcorp expects demand for preventive treatments to rise and is eyeing more deals, especially when assets are in smaller towns and cities.

Indian private equity firm Kedaara Capital invested $150 million in two hospitals recently, and is now evaluating more deals as it sees patients are opting for branded chains for better care, Chief Investment Officer Nishant Sharma said.

Another specialty chain, Centre for Sight, is in talks to sell a stake at a valuation of $200 million, one industry source said. The eye care group did not respond to a request for comment.

The attraction of single specialty hospitals, Sharma said, is that they are smaller in size, require less investment, but can generate superior returns as demand rises.

ASIA'S PACE-SETTER

Striking the largest healthcare deal ever in India, Singapore's state investor Temasek spent $2 billion in April lifing its stake in Manipal Hospitals, one of largest multispecialty chains whose services include cardio and neuro surgeries, by 41% to 59%.

India stands out from the rest of Asia, where there have been far fewer deals for hospitals this year, Dealogic data shows.

In 2022, PE investors spent $3.2 billion buying stakes in hospitals in India.

Thanks solely to the Temasek deal, India accounted for 40% of the private equity investment made in hospitals globally during the first five months of this year.

Separately, hospitals in India have been buying each other at near record rates, with M&As totalling $4 billion in 2022 and $2.2 billion in the first five months of this year.

INSURANCE, PLEASE

While COVID-induced behavioral change is one factor behind the burgeoning demand for private care, India's growing and gradually ageing population, rise in income levels and high disease burden - measuring years lost to lengthy illness or early death - are fundamental reasons why it has become an increasingly desirable option for families who can afford it.

The trends are evident in the financial reports from Apollo Hospitals APLH.NS, one of India's largest chains.

Between 2019 and 2022 Apollo's average daily revenue per bed shot up by a third to $553. And during the same period, the number of annual outpatients rose by 65% to 6.8 million.

The change in Indians' attitude to private health insurance in recent years, which became even more marked during the pandemic, has given confidence to investors looking to put money into the country's healthcare businesses.

In 2020/21, regulatory data shows that premiums for health insurance policies rose 25% to $8.8 billion - the highest for at least five years.

Previously, one of the main considerations for Indians buying health insurance was that it gave them tax breaks, but these days people, like the patients sat in an air-conditioned corridor at the Indira IVF hospital in Pune, appreciate getting what they pay for.

If they had gone to the government hospitals serving the surrounding towns, they would have faced more discomfort, longer queues and would have been unlikely to get the treatment they want.

"Big private hospitals are more reliable," said 35-year-old G. Chavan said as he accompanied his wife to see a doctor. "This place gives some comfort."

($1 = 82.0400 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by M. Sriram; Editing by Aditya Kalra & Simon Cameron-Moore)

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May 30 (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd APLH.NS:

• MARCH-QUARTER CONSOL NET PROFIT 1.45 BILLION RUPEES VERSUS PROFIT 901.4 MILLION RUPEES

• MARCH-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 43.02 BILLION RUPEES VERSUS 35.46 BILLION RUPEES

• FINAL DIVIDEND 9 RUPEES PER SHARE

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE4rbPB3

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May 11 (Reuters) - Indo National Ltd INNL.NS:

• TO INCORPORATE UNIT NIPPO GREEN ENERGY TO VENTURE IN RENEWABLE ENERGY

• OBJECT OF CO TO VENTURING IN RENEWABLE ENERGY

• CO TO HOLD 74% STAKE AND APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTERPRISES TO HOLD 26% STAKE IN NIPPO GREEN ENERGY

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE53GSl5

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By Anshuman Daga

SINGAPORE, April 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Temasek is picking a good time to focus on health. The sovereign investor is taking control of Indian hospital operator Manipal for $2 billion. Growing fast and recession-resilient, Asian healthcare is emerging as a relatively attractive safe haven for financial buyers.

It’s a bold push for the Singaporean firm into India, where its exposure has nearly doubled in five years to $16 billion. Manipal operates 29 hospitals and has more than 8,300 beds, making it among the largest chains in a sector led by Apollo Hospitals Enterprise APLH.NS. It will become Temasek’s biggest current investment in an Indian company too, but the purchase is prudent.

For a start, Temasek will now be able to call the shots and realise more savings in an asset it has part-owned since 2017. It’s buying a further 41% to bump its stake up to 59%. U.S. private equity firm TPG will benefit. It will hold 11% after exiting its investment through one fund and buying again through another.

Deals allowing investors to take control are on the rise but remain a prize in fast-growing tycoon-heavy economies. Manipal Chairman Ranjan Pai cites its long and cordial relationship with Temasek as one factor behind the family relinquishing majority control in a business that needs “long-term patient capital.”

Such capital is aiding hospital operators to expand aggressively as incomes rise and insurance penetration deepens. The pandemic focused minds on the importance of healthcare services too. Helped by acquisitions, for example, Manipal more than doubled its revenue to a provisional $489 million in the year to March 2022 and its EBITDA margin topped 24%, India Ratings & Research said in a note published in August.

Others are on an Indian health drive too. Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare IHHH.KL is trying to increase its stake in Fortis Healthcare FOHE.NS. Blackstone BX.N is the sole bidder for Care Hospitals, a potential $1 billion buyout, per Economic Times. Elsewhere, Metro Pacific Hospital, the market leader in the Philippines, has been growing fast too since KKR KKR.N and Singapore sovereign fund GIC purchased it in 2019.

Temasek’s deal might value Manipal at some 40 times its EBITDA, based on India Ratings’ report of its performance in the first three months, but its earlier stake purchase would reduce the multiple it is paying closer to Apollo’s 29 times. Either way, at this point in the cycle, hospitals look a healthy bet.

Follow @anshumandaga on Twitter

CONTEXT NEWS

Singapore’s Temasek will buy an additional 41% stake in Manipal Health Enterprises, the unlisted Indian hospital chain said on April 10. The state investor will spend around $2 billion according to a person familiar with the situation, adding to an existing 18% stake held by one of its wholly owned subsidiaries.

After the deal closes, the Pai family’s Manipal Group will hold about 30% of Manipal Health. TPG, which first invested in the company in 2015, will exit, and acquire a fresh interest of 11% through its new Asia fund.

(Editing by Una Galani and Katrina Hamlin)

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