Apollo Hospitals' Maharashtra expansion'

India's biggest corporate hospital chain Apollo Hospitals plans to expand its presence in Maharashtra. The company would invest Rs 250 crore to set up a 400-bed hospital at Navi Mumbai. It has also entered into a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Yash Birla Group to set up a new 250-bed hospital at Thane. Plans are afoot to finalise a hospital project at Nasik, Apollo Hospitals Group Chairman Prathap C Reddy told reporters on the sidelines of a CII Life Sciences Summit today.

''We will invest Rs 250 crore on a new hospital in Navi Mumbai. We will also set up two new hospitals in collaboration with the Yash Birla Group," he said. The Navi Mumbai facility would be spread over 3.5 acres of land, while Yash Birla Group owns the land for Thane and Nasik projects. The company would fund the projects primarily through internal accruals and by utilising a part of the 100 million dollars raised recently through private placement to Apax Partners,'' Reddy added. Apax Partners had picked up 11 per cent stake in the Apollo Hospitals Group for $100 million.

Apollo Hospitals is also looking at a JV agreement with a Mauritius-based company for a 46-million dollar hospital project. The company would hold 26 per cent stake in the proposed JV, while the Mauritius-based company would hold the remaining 74 per cent.

Reddy said the company's bottomline in the first six months of the current financial year has risen by 34 per cent. Apollo expects a 40 per cent increase in its bottomline and a 45 per cent rise in topline for FY2007-08.