CARE Hospitals get buyout offer of Rs 1,800 crore from PE majors

Strategic and financial sponsors have shown interest to acquire multi-speciality hospital chain CARE Hospitals from its current private equity owners Advent International.

The front-runners to acquire Hyderabad-headquartered hospital chain are private equity group Abraaj, and a consortium of PD Hinduja Hospital, Everstone Group and even South African healthcare chain Netcare and Bain Capital, Singapore's Temasek Holdings and Baring Private Equity Asia.

They have submitted offers and the final negotiations are underway with the CARE Hospitals Group, which is owned and managed by Quality CARE India Ltd and runs 17 hospitals across nine cities in India.

Sources told Economic Times that majority of the offers have valued the chainbetween Rs 1500 crore - Rs 1800 crore inclusive of its debt.
CARE Hospitals’ founders developed Asia’s first indigenous coronary stent. The chain plans to add 300 to 400 beds over the next 18 months.

However, healthcare industry experts have a mixed reaction about the prospects of CARE.

"It is a fully juiced out asset and doesn't throw out cash like a Medanta or Apollo. It is also largely based in Tier II cities and have smaller operations while its flagship property is in Hyderabad, a fiercely competitive market," an investment banker, following this trade, told ET.

As per Barclays, Indian healthcare market has significant long-term growth potential sharing similar growth drivers as other key regional markets.

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