Metropolis Healthcare today said it has raised $85 million (around Rs 375 crore) from the US-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus to fund its expansion plans.
The expansion plan includes adding 40 new diagnostic laboratories over the next three years all across the world.
The company said it is looking to invest Rs 100 crore in adding new laboratories.
"We had raised $85 million from Warburg Pincus to invest in our overall expansion programme. From the current 12 million samples annually, we want to double our handling capacity in the next three years," Metropolis Healthcare Executive Director and CEO Ameera Shah told PTI.
She, however, declined to share how much stake the private equity (PE) firm had picked up in Mumbai-based laboratory chain.
"Warburg picked up a minority stake in June," she added.
Metropolis Healthcare currently operates 60 laboratories and 500 collection centres in India, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
"While we will be doubling our sampling capacity, we will probably have 100 laboratories in the next three years. This year we will be adding 7-8 new laboratories," Shah said.
The company is looking to invest Rs 100 crore in adding the new laboratories, she added.
Without giving any detail, Shah said Metropolis Health Care is in final stages of acquiring two independent laboratories in North India for about Rs 15 crore.
Asked if the company is planning to enter new market Shah said, "We will not go into new region, but new countries. We want to go to Kenya, Tanzania, Ethoipia, Iran, Oman, Kuwait and some more nations."
She said the company will also be increasing its workforce to up to 3,000 people in the next three years from 2,000 employees at present.
The company had clocked Rs 250 crore turnover in last fiscal and is expecting 30-45 per cent growth in this fiscal, she said.
Shah said the company is foraying into dental care services and will open two outlets in Mumbai and Chennai as a pilot project very shortly.