KIMS group raises $200 million from True North

Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), a hospital chain providing health care services in India and West Asia (Middle East), has raised $200 million from private equity fund True North (formerly India Value Fund Advisors). 

With this investment, True North will acquire about 40 per cent stake in KIMS, held by Ascent Capital Advisors India Pvt Ltd and OrbiMed Advisors Llc. 

KIMS will use the capital infusion to fund its growth plans. 

MI Sahadulla, chairman of the KIMS Group, and his management team will continue to run the company both in India and the Middle East, said a company statement. 

“Started by a group of professionals, including doctors and management experts, our aim at KIMS has been to provide ethical, high quality health care with a focus on patient safety. Together, with a shared value system, we hope to continue our growth and to become one of the largest health care providers in India and the Middle East in the next three to five years,” Sahadulla said. Satish Chander, managing director of True North, said, “We have had the opportunity to evaluate numerous organisations in this space and have made nine investments across our different funds. We are excited about the health care potential in India and the Middle East (West Asia), and believe that KIMS would be a good addition to our health care portfolio.”

KIMS, founded in 2002 by Sahadulla and founding promoters, claims to be the largest corporate hospital chain in Kerala. The group has a presence in the Middle East across five countries, with two hospitals and six medical centres, besides one managed hospital. 

The group's combined turnover is over Rs 1,100 crore with a profitability of 11.5 per cent and employs more than 6,000 health care providers, including 600 doctors.

True North has successfully launched five separate investment funds with a combined corpus of over $2 billion.