Healthcare major, Apollo Hospitals, on Monday said it has scaled down its fund raising plans and only intend to raise Rs 600 crore through the qualified institutional placement route.
“We have obtained shareholders’ and board approvals for raising Rs 900 crore including QIP. But we intend to raise only Rs 600 crore from QIP at the moment”, Apollo Hospitals Managing Director, Mr Preetha Reddy, said.
She said the money would be used for expansion plans. With a present capacity of 8,000 beds spread across 54 hospitals and clinics in the country, the company plans to add another 2,000 beds in 24 months.
Ms Reddy said that four new hospitals were coming up at Mumbai, Nasik, Nellore and Chennai.
Launching the bone marrow transplant (BMT) unit at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals in the city today, she said that the number of beds at the hospital would be increased from 475 to 1,000.
Talking about expansion plans, she said that the company would add five hospitals each year with 200 beds. “We want to raise the bed capacity to 20,000”, she said.
Asked whether the company was looking overseas, she said that the company was eyeing the African countries.
She said, “We want to invest in Africa if the right opportunities are there.” She said Nigeria and Uganda were on Apollo’s radar for investment. Apollo was open to both acquisitions and greenfield projects in Africa.
She said that the company was eyeing a year—on—year revenue growth of 28 per cent. In West Bengal, she said the company is interested in places like Siliguri and Asansol.
The new BMT unit would have all the state—of—art protocols needed for such treatment, she said.