Dabur Chairman Anand Burman is in the process of setting up a $200-million (Rs 910 crore) Asian Healthcare Fund for investments in the healthcare space across Asia. As anchor investor, he has put in $20 million and is busy organising road shows to raise the rest. Hardly three weeks into the business, AHF has already clinched a deal, acquiring controlling stakes in Delhi-based radiology and imaging company Diwan Chand Medical Services Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed amount. Burman spoke to Joe C Mathew on his plans for AHF. Edited excerpts:
May we see this healthcare fund as Dabur’s plan for re-entry into the core healthcare business after it sold its entire stake in Dabur Pharma to European firm Fresenius Kabi two years earlier?
This project has nothing to do with Dabur. I and another member of my family have put in about $20 million, 10 per cent of the fund we target to raise, in a personal capacity. We want to invest in various healthcare opportunities, as the sector is booming, and will continue to boom for the next 20 years.
Is it an India-specific fund?
No. It will be an Asia-specific health fund, registered in Mauritius. We will look for targets in India, in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, etc. We will try to work out synergies among such businesses in India and in any of these countries.
Have there been any investment commitments other than yours?
Not yet. You can’t say it’s done until you have the cheques with you. This process takes time. We are making our presentations, doing our road shows. There is lot of interest among potential investors.
You have already picked up stakes in Diwan Chand. Is the diagnostic sector very promising?
We have taken significant stake in Diwan Chand as we see great potential in diagnostic business, both within India and outside. We would eventually like to see Diwan Chand as a national leader in imaging diagnostics.
How do you differentiate yourself among other diagnostic players? Most hospitals have their own imaging centres. Does that reduce the growth potential of a standalone imaging centre?
When we talk about diagnostics, we are only talking of imaging diagnostics like MRI, CT Scan, ultrasound and high-end imaging services. We don’t even have a regional player in this segment today. What we have today are individual centres run by doctors. What we don’t have is a corporate, organised player in imaging diagnostics. This market is so big, so there is room for the corporate hospitals, as well as corporate diagnostic chains. What we are trying to provide is very high-end imaging services which we feel others cannot bring to the table. We will also be embedded in hospitals. We are not ruling that out. We will have a regional footprint to begin with.
Once we have that, we will try to capitalise on the synergies that come out of it. So, let us say, if we have 20 imaging centres in the next three years, we can think of bulk orders of consumables, rationalising manpower.
So, your investments are not from a purely financial perspective. You also intend to be actively involved in such firms?
Absolutely. What AHF is trying to do is to provide financial growth capital to the target institutions. More important, we will provide our expertise to grow the business, making it more efficient and enhancing the value of those businesses. This is what we did in Dabur Pharma. Money, anybody can invest, but we want to be absolute partners to the promoters in the businesses we invest. These will be long-term investments as, typically, the healthcare industry has a long gestation period.
Now that you have plans to build a national brand in the imaging diagnostic segment, will other acquisition targets also be from the same segment?
No, we will cover the entire healthcare space. And, healthcare includes research and development type of businesses, clinical services, manufacturing of medicines and medical devices, hospitals...it’s the entire spectrum.
Are you open for more such deals, even before your fund-raising exercise is over?
If we see a deal, we will go for it. Even as we speak right now, we are evaluating two other deals. Both are from the healthcare segment, but not diagnostics. It is too premature to disclose more about the talks now.
