Apollo Hospitals plans to acquire two hospital facilities

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (AHEL) is looking at acquiring at least two hospitals, one in Indore and another one in North Easternern region, as part of expanding its operations through inorganic mode.

The hospital has been predominantly focusing on developing healthcare facilities through green field projects, while of late expressed its interest in acquiring facilities where the valuations are acceptable to them.

"We are already looking at acquisition and Indore could be one happening through aquisition in FY 15. We are also looking for an acquistion in North East," said Krishnan Akhileswaran, CFO of Apollo Hospitals to the Analysts on Tuesday. However, he refused to reveal more on the plans.

"It is in a preliminary stage and we may have to wait for some more time to get a clarity on it," he told Business Standard. The company has been looking for smaller facilities of around 200 beds in tier II, III cities for acquisition, he added.

The typical investment on a green field project is around Rs 40-50 lakh per bed and in an acquisition the valuation would be considered depending upon the access to the hospital and the facilities. If it is a superior location with a better facility, the valuations would also be looked at, he added.

The company already has an announced expansion plan of Rs 2,123 crore, to add 12 hospitals to the existing 39 own hospital increasing the number of owned beds from 6,600 beds with 2,310 more beds. While the 185 bed super speciality hospital in Indore is in this, majority of the inorganic plans are out of the plan for the scheduled expansion plan, said Krishnan.

The health care major has earlier signed a deal with Chennai-based Lifeline Hospital, to lease its tertiary care facility in the outskirts of the city, for a period of 30 years.