New Delhi: Third-party administrator Vidal Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd Monday said Ambit Pragma Ventures Pvt. Ltd, the private equity arm of Ambit Holdings Pvt. Ltd has invested about $10 million in the firm to buy a significant minority stake.
Bengaluru-based Vidal Health will use funds to expand its medical management and benefits administration services and strengthen its market presence in India and the United Arab Emirates.
“(The) capital will be deployed towards growth and acquisitions in India,” said Girish Rao, chairman and managing director at Vidal Healthcare.
“We are also looking at expanding our footprints outside India, mainly in the MENA (The Middle East and North Africa) region and South-east Asia. We feel that India provides a very good platform for the next five-seven years,” he added.
Vidal Healthcare clocked revenue of close to Rs100 crore in the fiscal year 2015-16.
“We continue to grow very well. We are ahead of our target; so industry growth rate of 20-25% plus is something that we will see. We are quite optimistic that we will grow at the rate of 30-35% this year,” Rao said.
“As the healthcare industry gets organized across the value chain, institutional and consumer demand for management of care and payments will only escalate,” said Rajeev Agrawal, managing partner, Ambit Pragma.
Rao said Vidal Healthcare had acquired 100% equity in Dubai-based third-party administrator GlobalNet TPA Llc but did not disclose details of the transaction. The acquisition was funded partly through internal accruals and partly through the capital just raised from Ambit.
The Indian healthcare market is currently worth $100 billion and expected to grow to $280 billion by 2020, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.9%, according to a report by India Brand Equity Foundation.
“Rising income level, greater health awareness, increased the incidence of lifestyle diseases and improved access to insurance would be the key contributors to growth,” according to the report.
This is the Ambit Pragma’s second investment this year, made from its $150 million second fund called Ambit Pragma Fund II that it raised in 2013. Ambit has made four investments from this fund. Currently, the company has cash reserves on hand of about $35 million.
Ambit Pragma invested about $20 million in Prime Focus Technology (PFT), a subsidiary of media services company Prime Focus, for a 10% stake. In March this year, Ambit Pragma offloaded its controlling equity stake in Pune-based Spear Logistics Private Ltd, to international logistics provider FM Logistic.
With about $150 million under management, Ambit Pragma has investments in the logistics, healthcare, media and FMCG sectors. It typically invests $5-10 million in companies with annual revenue of $5-30 million.
Ambit Pragma’s portfolio includes Spear Logistics Pvt, Prasanna Purple Mobility Solutions Pvt. Ltd, MAD Studios Pvt Ltd, Kelvin Cold Chain Logistics Pvt Ltd, Teamwork Arts and Prime Focus Technologies.
