MUMBAI | KOCHI: Tech billionaire Azim Premji is among the four shortlisted bidders to buy controlling shares in private healthcare chain KIMS Hospitals in a deal estimated at around $220 million (around Rs 1,400 crore), multiple sources directly familiar with the matter said. Kerala-based KIMS operates 2,000 beds through a network of hospitals in the Middle East and southern India.
N M Rothschild is advising the existing foreign investors -Orbimed and Ascent Capital -on a secondary sale of shares, besides a fairly large primary capital infusion into the company. Private equity investors TPG Capital, India Value Fund and an entity backed by Singapore’s Temasek Holding are the other suitors in the fray.
Some of the bidders could join forces even as binding offers are expected shortly , sources said.
The 70-year-old Wipro chairman’s personal investment entity PremjiInvest manages assets worth over $2 billion and has invested in about 50 publicly traded and privately held companies. The latest deal making could mark its first acquisition if its bid emerges successful. Premji, who has placed significant investment bets on the consumption-driven economy , is an investor in cancer care specialist HCG Global, which listed on the bourses last year.
When contacted, KIMS executive director E M Najeeb declined to comment. An emailed query to PremjiInvest chief investment officer Prakash Parthasarathy remained unanswered at the time of going to press. TPG declined to comment. India Value Fund and Temasek could not be reached immediately .
TPG has prospected this deal even before a formal process kicked off earlier this year. India Value Fund, one of the largest private equity managers in the country , is likely to partner with some of its global sponsors in bidding for the healthcare asset, sources mentioned earlier in the report added. Founders, led by Dr. M I Sahadulla, and senior management would retain a substantial minority stake following the deal.
Middle East-based Indian origin heavyweights B R Shetty of NMC Healthcare and Azad Moopen of Aster DM Healthcare are also revving up the action as they build a local footprint in a sector dominated by Prathap C Reddy-led Apollo Hospital, Shivinder and Malvinder Singh’s Fortis and Ranjan Pai-driven Manipal Hospitals.
Founded in 2002, KIMS has a network of eight hospitals and a string of medical centres employing 850 doctors and 950 nursing staff. Its Middle East footprint covers Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In India, KIMS has a multicity presence in Kerala apart from owning majority shares in cancer care specialist KIMS Bibi Hospital in Hyderabad.
