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Chennai-based Agarwal’s Eye Hospital group is looking to invest ₹400 crore to drive its 2020 vision that projects a turnover in excess of ₹1,000 crore.
“We did a private equity deal in series B investment last year and raised ₹270 crore. The investing entity was ADV Capital based out of Mumbai with offices in Singapore and Hong Kong,” Adil Agarwal, CEO of the group told BusinessLine here.
Second round “We’re looking to raise a second round of private equity over the next 18 months. We’re getting a lot of feelers from prospective investors since we’re the de facto leader in the eye care space now,” he added.
The CEO said the group is ‘pretty much on track for achieving the 2020 goal. “We will have a footprint of 150 hospitals over the next three years from the current base of 76,” he added.
The group has decided on a combination of greenfield and brownfield expansion here even as it looks to enter West Asia to cater to the Indian diaspora.
“I would say that 60 per cent of the expansion here would be brownfield. We would like to enter into partnership with local doctors here because they understand what the local population wants.”
The group will provide equipment and infrastructure for services. The touch and feel a local practitioner brings is something that it can’t provide. “We would like to use the existing patient base of the local partners to provide services.”
Adil Agarwal was here on the occasion of opening the group’s hospital here, its first in Kerala. This centre is capable of catering to 250 patients a day.
The group is looking to set up similar centres in Kochi, Kozhikode and possibly Thrissur in Kerala.
Abroad, the group has 15 hospitals in Africa alone. It has now decided to enter West Asia.
Answering a question, the CEO said the way private hospital works, those in the lower rungs of society may find them unaffordable.
“But we’re able to circumvent that problem in Thiruvananthapuram. Because the city has got lot of government employees. We provide insurance facility. So we can empanel ourselves with all government agencies.
“We hope to get the NABH accreditation for the centre once we complete a year of operations. That will help us get the government’s approval,” Agarwal said.
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