Aster Healthcare to expand operations in India, will focus on health tourism

Dubai-headquartered Aster DM Healthcare will add hospitals in South and West India and focus on medical tourism as a part of its expansion plan in India.

The group runs 14 hospitals across India and the Gulf states and will soon file for an initial public offering. According to media reports, the group is valued at Rs 12,000 crore and is expected to offer 10 percent stake worth Rs 1,200 crore in its offering.

Other hospital chains expected to file IPO prospectus include Dr Devi Shetty-promoted Narayana Health.

"We have an expansion plan for India and will focus on South and West India. In the last few months we have invested about Rs 550 crore in an advanced hospital in Kochi and we will invest Rs 230 crore in our hospital in Bengaluru," said group chairperson Dr Azad Moopen. Recently the group also acquired 57 percent stake in a hospital in Riyadh in $253 million deal.

Moopen and other promoters own 52 percent while private equity firms own 35 percent in the hospital chain. In the last fiscal the group posted a consolidated revenue of $650 million (about Rs 4,200 crore).

Aster DM Healthcare has a mix of both owned and leased hospitals offering totally 1,845 beds. This includes eight hospitals in India and six in Gulf. It will add 1,380 beds over next few months. In the Gulf it also runs pharmacies and clinics under different brands.

The group is also focusing on medical tourism to increase bed occupancy and revenue of its hospitals in India. Patients from abroad opt for higher priced rooms and thus aid in revenue growth.

" About ten percent of the patients in our hospital in Kochi are from Gulf states especially Oman and they contributed about 17 percent of the hospital's revenue," added Alisha Moopen, the group's director (corporate affairs).