Everstone Capital’s healthcare platform inks first India deal

By Joseph Rai

  • 13 Mar 2019
Credit: Reuters

Everlife, the pan-Asian healthcare platform of private equity firm Everstone Capital, has made a strategic investment in in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) products manufacturer CPC Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd.

The strategic partnership will help CPC Diagnostics take its product portfolio to new customers and markets, the Chennai-based company’s managing director R Kailasnath said in a statement.

The financial specifics of the transaction, which marks Everlife's first deal in India, were not disclosed. 

Founded in 1987, CPC Diagnostics offers instruments for clinical chemistry, haematology and immunodiagnostics molecular diagnostics along with reagents. 

The company has a presence in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In 2011, it had formed JEEV Diagnostics -- a joint venture with US-based Awareness Technology  -- to manufacture high-performance chemistry reagents in India.

“Its (CPC’s) strong manufacturing and R&D capabilities make them an ideal partner for us and we will help them expand in markets beyond India,” said Arjun Oberoi, vice chairman of Everlife and managing director at Everstone Capital.

“Everlife can also leverage CPC to grow its value segment range of products, to cater to the growing demand of quality medical devices within emerging markets,” he added. 

Investment bank 7i Capital Advisors acted as the exclusive sell-side advisor on this transaction.

In another transaction in the segment, US-based PerkinElmer, Inc. had agreed to acquire IVD company Tulip Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd for an undisclosed amount in 2017.

Everlife

Everstone had launched Everlife in late-2017. The healthcare platform had made its debut bet by backing Malaysia-based medical products and solutions distributor Chemopharm Sdn Bhd. 

At the time, Everstone had said that Everlife was also exploring acquisition opportunities in areas such as lab and diagnostic equipment, patient monitoring and critical care.

Everlife is led by Oberoi, whose Singapore-based Cure Capital is a minority shareholder in Everlife.

In December last year, VCCircle had reported that Everlife was also looking to pick up a majority stake in a regional hospital chain.

India and Southeast Asia-focussed Everstone, which was founded in 2006, has about $5 billion in assets under management in private equity and real estate investments.

The firm has offices in Singapore, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Mauritius, New York and London.