Healthcare-focused private equity investor Quadria Capital will invest up to Rs 1,300 crore (around $158 million) in GSK Velu-led eyecare chain Maxivision Eye Hospital in two tranches.
The PE fund will make an initial investment of about Rs 600 crore ($73 million) for a minority stake followed by an additional stake worth Rs 700 crore ($85 million) in the second tranche.The development was first reported by VCCircle last month. The report said that the eyecare hospital was in the advanced stages to raise funds from PE investors, with Quadria Capital being one of the frontrunners.
The fund infusion will fuel Maxivision’s plans to scale its operations especially in tier-II and tier-III markets, a press statement said.
“The market for eyecare in India is expected to grow at over 12% per year over the next five years. With Quadria’s support, we will be able to meet this growing demand for affordable, accessible and high-quality eyecare across India,” said Sudheer VS, chief executive officer of Maxivision.
Veda Corporate Advisors, a mid-market focussed investment bank, assisted Maxivision on the transaction.
According to an earlier report by VCCircle, the eyecare chain has launched joint ventures in Hyderabad and Rajkot and made a greenfield entry into Tamil Nadu. It plans to open more hospitals in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat by the end of the current financial year.
The chain is also finalising additional joint ventures in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Karnataka with reputed doctors in those regions.
Other private equity firms that have struck deals in the healthcare space include Kedaara Capital, True North, Multiples PE, ChrysCapital, and PAG, among others. The ticket sizes, however, are mostly in the Rs 400-600 crore range, making this deal one of the largest ones in the sector.
The healthcare services sector has seen increased activity, with both PE funds and strategic investors evaluating assets across the country. A report by UK-based PE firm Coller Capital substantiated this shift in its report. It said that after seeing robust returns in 2022, the investor community is turning more and more bullish on the healthcare sector, globally.
Among other deals in the healthcare space, omnichannel pharmacy chain Pharmeasy is in talks to raise Rs 2,500 crore ($304 million) to retire the senior debt it had raised from Goldman Sachs. While Rs 1,000 crore is likely to come from Manipal Group’s Ranjan Pai’s family office, existing investors in Pharmeasy are expected to pump in the rest.
