ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Mumbai: Seattle-based healthcare chain Columbia Asia is in preliminary talks with strategic and financial investors, including Manipal Health Enterprises, Bain Capital and Temasek Holdings , to sell its Indian hospital operations for about $250-300 million.The transaction is part of Columbia’s strategic decision to exit healthcare business in India and has mandated Morgan Stanley to run a formal process to find a buyer, sources with direct knowledge of the process told ET.Feelers were also being sent to other bulge bracket private equity investors as well as strategic buyers and initial responses are due by mid-November, sources said.“A process has been started. Mani-pal has shown keen interest. In fact, one of Manipal’s investors, TPG, is part of the consortium that bought Columbia’s South East Asian operations.We expect initial responses after Diwali ,” said one of the sources mentioned above.Earlier last month, Columbia had agreed to sell its South East Asian operations to Malaysian conglomerate Hong Leong Group and TPG Capital Management for about $1.2 billion. TPG owns nearly 25% stake in Manipal healthcare.When contacted, Columbia confirmed the development. “We are in the first phase of the process with a lot of active interest from both strategic and financial investors,’’ Nate McLemore, Managing Director, Columbia Asia told ET in an emailed response.It expects to conclude the transaction by late 2019 or early 2020.“The intent is to provide liquidity for some of our investors and identify a partner to continue the tremendous growth of Columbia Asia India,’’ McLemore said.Columbia Asia has 11 facilities across the country with a total bed strength of around 1200 with another 200 beds under construction. It has six hospitals in Karnataka and one each in Maharashtra, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi.Mails sent to Manipal remained unanswered, while spokespersons at Bain and Temasek Capital declined to comment.After losing out in the race for Fortis Hospitals, Manipal Hospitals had been engaged in discussions for multiple buyouts in the hospital industry.Backed by private equity giants, Manipal Hospitals was in final discussions to acquire about 82% stake in Medanta-The Medicity, owned by renowned heart surgeon Naresh Trehan, at a valuation of Rs 5,800 crore ($820 million). However, the deal had fallen through a month ago.Manipal was also engaged in negotiations to acquire a couple of other assets such as Hyderabadbased hospital chain Star Hospitals and Kolkata-based AMRI Hospitals Ltd (Advanced Medical Research Institute).FMCG major Emami Group holds about 98% stake in AMRI, which has about 1000 beds under five hospitals spread across Kolkata and Bhubaneswar.TPG Capital, the buyout arm of private equity major TPG Group, holds 25% stake in Manipal Health Enterprises while Singapore government's investment arm Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd holds 18% stake. Temasek also owns 18% stake in Medanta.