Narayana Hrudayalaya, the reputed city-based cardiac care hospital chain, is closing in on a deal to acquire a 400-bed multi-specialty hospital in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, for close to Rs 200 crore.
The Rs 350-crore chain group, started by Dr Devi Shetty, is expected to finalise the acquisition in a couple of months and will start operations by January next year.
Narayana Hrudayalaya (NH) is expected to treat the hospital as a special purpose vehicle into which it will funnel external institutional and high networth individuals’ investments. While NH is also expected to invest to a certain extent, most of it will go into buying equipment and on managing the hospital.
“On an average, we get 25 patients from Malaysia every month and we are known to an extent in the medical community in that country. So, we are entering Malaysia to further our network,” a senior official of NH said.
The move to enter Malaysia comes after its plan to enter Mexico by setting up a health city project with a strategic partner. NH is also understood to be working on plans to start operations at Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa. NH will work with the government there and will not be setting up its own base to start with.