Homegrown private equity firm True North’s Fund III has sold its entire stake of 9.15% in India- and Gulf-based hospital chain Aster DM Healthcare Ltd for ₹550 crore.
Mint reported on Thursday that True North had sold a 7.4% stake held by the firm’s third fund through block trades. The fund followed this with selling another 1.75% for around ₹100 crore, thus exiting the company completely.
The shares were bought by various investors, including Fidelity, HDFC Mutual Fund, Ontario Pension Fund, Tata AIA Life Insurance Co. Ltd, Steinberg India Opportunities Fund, and an existing investor of the company Rimco, exchange data shows. The shares were sold at ₹120 each.
However, True North continues to stay invested in the company through its fourth and fifth private equity funds.
“True North continues to stay invested in Aster DM from its fund IV and fund V. As on 31 March, Fund IV held 2.17% and Fund V held 0.91% of Aster DM. True North plans to stay invested in the hospital chain through its Fund IV and V,” said a person aware of the PE firm’s plans.
“The company has scaled up extremely well over the 11 years since True North first invested in Aster DM. With its competitive advantage in the markets of operation and great execution capability of the management team, the company will continue its superlative growth and deliver shareholder value,” he said. Aster DM, which was founded by Dr. Azad Moopen in 1987 as a single clinic, has a portfolio of healthcare facilities that consists of hospitals, clinics, and retail pharmacies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and several multi-specialty hospitals and clinics in India. Aster’s hospitals in India are located in Kochi, Kolhapur, Kozhikode, Kottakkal, Bengaluru and Hyderabad and are operated under the Aster Medcity, Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS), and Aster Prime Hospital brands.
Aster DM Healthcare, which also counts PE firm Olympus Capital as its investor. went public last year in an initial public offering that saw it raise ₹980 crore, selling its shares at a price of ₹190 each.
True North first invested in Aster DM in 2008. Its other healthcare investments include hospital chain Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences; medical device manufacturer Trivitron Healthcare and maternity and infant care chain Cloudnine.
Source: Mint