Dubai: The Bahrain-based investment company Investcorp has sold its entire stake in the Indian healthcare firm ASG Eye Hospital to General Atlantic and Kedaara Capital. ASG is rated as India’s second biggest eye-care hospital chain.
Investcorp sold its shares as part of a growth capital funding round of 15 billion rupees, making this 'India’s biggest private equity funding in the eye care space and one of the largest private equity transactions in the single specialty healthcare industry in the country'.
“It gives us great pleasure to see that ASG has grown to become one of the most prominent eye-care chains in India,” said Gaurav Sharma, Head of Private Equity India at Investcorp, which bought a stake in the two decade old healthcare in 2017.
In the period since, ASG executed a domestic expansion strategy, entering new and under-served markets in India. The number of hospitals operated by ASG in India has increased ‘two-and-a-half fold’ and revenues have tripled. Earlier this year, ASG won the bid to acquire Vasan Eye, a large eye care hospital chain in India. This acquisition will expand ASG’s footprint in South India.
In India, Investcorp remains an active investor in mid-market companies across consumer-linked sectors and also in real estate. In the private equity space, Investcorp targets opportunities within healthcare, software and business services, financial services and consumer sectors. Its investments over the last four years include Wingreens, V-Ensure, Intergrow Brands, Bewakoof.com, Freshtohome, Zolo, InCred, Citykart, NephroPlus, Unilog, XpressBees, and Safari Industries.
This was our first investment in the healthcare sector in India and our private equity team in India will continue to identify opportunities in growing founder-led companies with the potential to create value for our clients.
