Hyderabad-based healthcare chain, Care Hospitals, which had raised $105 million ( Rs 534 crore) this financial year from US-based private equity major Advent International, is on an expansion drive.
It is planning to double beds capacity to 3,500, set up five new greenfield hospitals and a Rs 35-crore daycare Centre of Excellence over the next two. The projects will involve a total investment of Rs 400 crore.
“We have adopted this three-pronged growth strategy to become a major healthcare player in India. Currently, we are present in five states across the central and southern India, mainly in Tier II cities such as Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Surat and Pune, along with Hyderabad. For the time being, our focus will be more on expanding at our existing locations,” N Krishna Reddy, chief executive officer, Care Hospitals, told Business Standard.
Care plans to upgrade and add 100-200 beds at its existing 100-bedded hospitals across the cities, as some of the hospitals are a decade old. It has already started expansion work on its Banjara Hills and Nampally units here. It has 12 hospitals, including four in Hyderabad. “We are planning to set up our fifth unit in Hyderabad at Gachibowli. It will be a 250-bed hospital and come up with an investment of around Rs 105 crore,” he said.
The proposed Rs 35-crore daycare centre, spread across 100,000 sft, will come up in Banjara Hills and house 100 counselling chambers, spas and dialysis centres. “We have already acquired a building and will covert it into the day-care centre,” he said.
The healthcare major is also looking at growth from the consolidation space. “Two-three healthcare players from our existing locations have approached us with proposals. We are looking at like-minded opportunities. If at all it happens, it will be through acquiring majority stake,” he said. Care will fund the projects through a mix of equity (around 70 per cent) and debt (30 per cent). “We are planning to raise around Rs 100 crore from various banks in phases over the deployment period of two years,” Reddy said. Founded in 1997, the hospital chain is estimated to have a revenue of Rs 500 crore.