Private equity fund Bessemer Venture Partners and IDFC-backed Medi-Assist Health Services, a healthcare services provider, are in talks with other private equity funds to raise up to ₹250 crore towards a pre-IPO fundraise, said three people with direct knowledge of the matter. The company plans to issue a public offer later in the year and will soon file its draft prospectus with the market regulator.
“The company has reached out to mid-size private equity funds to raise up to ₹250 crore as a pre-IPO round,” said one of the persons with direct knowledge of the deal. Medi-Assist is a Bengaluru-based healthcare services provider that offers services in wellness, pharmacy programme management, medical network management and benefits administration. Catering to India’s corporates, it counts Reliance ADAG and the Aditya Birla Group amongst its clients.
Originally incubated by Infosys co-founder NS Raghavan’s private investment firm Nadathur Group, MediAssist was acquired by the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Health in 2006. In 2011, Bessemer Venture Partners and Vikram Jit Singh Chattwal picked up a significant minority stake in the company for $20 million from Reliance and the Nadathur Group. Subsequently in 2013, IDFC acquired a minority stake in the company for ₹125 crore.
“Bessemer will look at selling a minority stake in the pre-IPO round, while IDFC will wait till the IPO,” said another person with knowledge of the development.
Bessemer Venture Partners, that counts Swiggy, Bigbasket, LivSpace, Pharmeasy, Urbanclap, Hungama, NephroPlus, Perfios, Innoviti, Home First Finance as its portfolio companies, has been in a winddown mode, media reports suggest.
