Peepul Capital-owned Medall Diagnostics plans to go for an IPO in 4 years

Medall Diagnostics, backed by private equity (PE) firm Peepul Capital, is planning to go for an initial public offering (IPO). The listing would help the company build its business organically, said a senior official. It may be noted that founder Raju venkataraman, who retired from the company last year, continues to remain on the board and hold a stake. Peepul Capital holds 80 per cent in the company.

Arjun Ananth, chief executive of integrated diagnostic services provider Medall Diagnostics, said: "We are planning to take the company public in four years. We are building a different kind of diagnostic company, with a clear emphasis on customer-centricity and digital technologies. We see the potential to build this business organically."

With over 7,000 customer touch points across 70 plus districts in nine states, 24 NABL-accredited labs and 80 ISO-certified labs and with more than 2500 employees, Medall provides both radiology and pathology services under one roof. Medall’s revenue, approximately Rs 400 crore at present, is estimated to increase to Rs 1,000 crore in three to four years.

The company is planning to increase its presence in Tier-II and -III cities, which have few avenues for reliable, affordable and world-class diagnostic services. Medall has 80 diagnostic centres and 100 collection centres across South India currently. It plans to scale these up to 115 and 300, respectively, by the end of the year. It has set up radiology and pathology labs in Tier-II and –III cities and towns in India and has firmly established itself as a premier integrated diagnostics chain, having served over 9 million customers by performing more than 25 million tests. Medall also has a public-private partnership with the Jharkhand government, and it is ready to serve other state governments, should they approach it for such collaborations.

Medall has strengthened its tech delivery during the pandemic by gearing up to launch an app that seeks to offer a blend of telemedicine, personalised healthcare and consultation. It launched “myhealth”, a comprehensive suite for wellness packages that encourages people to get proactive about their well-being.

Ananth said the company had managed to handle the pandemic well and set up new 15,000-square-foot central reference lab in Chennai. It has closely worked with the Tamil Nadu government to provide Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RTPCR) tests, besides antigen and antibody tests for Covid-19.

He added that business was gradually coming back to pre-Covid levels. During the pandemic, the first quarter of this financial year was difficult. The second quarter was dominated by Covid testing. "In the third quarter we saw a very gradual recovery in the non-Covid business. As people get comfortable with lower a Covid positivity rate and as doctors expand their practice hours, we see business returning to normalcy in this quarter," said Ananth.

The Covid-19 pandemic presented opportunities to further consolidate the company's position in the diagnostic and preventive healthcare space. Medall also forayed into treatment of lifestyle diseases like diabetes, obesity, PCOD, chronic fatigue, etc. Many of these are the primary co-morbidities and Covid has increased awareness about the need to alter lifestyles to prevent such diseases. Medall has also launched Blume, a cutting-edge programme to treat these disorders. A first of its kind in the country, this is enabled by technology and entirely flexible, with a monthly subscription-based model for customers. It also entered the artificial intelligence arena through a partnership with an organisation consisting of experts in the field to improve the diagnosis using CT and MRI. Its telemedicine initiative is also gaining traction.