Temasek Holdings, a Singapore government-owned fund, has bought a 59% share in Manipal Health Enterprises, India’s largest hospital network. Sheares Health, a Temasek-owned company, has purchased an additional 41% share in Manipal from the promoters and existing investors. According to numerous sources, the hospital chain is worth at Rs29,000 crore ($3.6 billion).
Post transaction, stake held by Manipal Health promoter Ranjan Pai & family will be reduced to 30% while stake owned by existing investor TPG will be 11%. The Pai family, which founded India’s first privately owned medical college in Karnataka’s Manipal town in 1953, held 52% stake in the entity.
Manipal Health Enterprise has acquired the Kolkata-based AMRI (Advanced Medical Research Institute) Hospitals in a Rs2400 crore deal that is awaiting permission from the West Bengal government. The West Bank government holds around 2% of AMRI.
The acquisition of AMRI will add 1,200 beds to the Manipal group’s hospital portfolio, bringing the total to around 9,500 beds. It currently has roughly 8,300 beds spread across 28 hospitals.
Manipal Health is also the leading bidder for a 70% stake in KIMS Health Management, Kerala’s largest hospital chain, from private equity investment True North. With the acquisition of KIMS Kerala, Manipal Health would become India’s largest hospital chain, with 10,800 beds.
In 2020, Manipal Health had acquired the Indian assets of Columbia Asia Hospitals for around Rs 2,100 crore and in June 2021, it bought out Bengaluru-based Vikram Hospitals from Multiple Private Equity for around Rs 350 crore.
The hospital industry is expected to post occupancy levels of 62-64 per cent in FY23 and FY24 backed by continued healthy demand for elective surgeries, recovery in medical tourism to pre-Covid levels and continued market share gains for organised players, said rating agency ICRA in a January report.