Sterling Hospitals to expand beyond Gujarat: Girish Patel

The hospital chain plans to expand in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh

After Girish Patel promoted private equity fund picked up Actis' stake in Sterling Hospitals for an undisclosed sum, the hospital chain is planning to expand aggressively within and outside Gujarat.

Patel, who was the founder and ex-promoter of Paras Pharmaceuticals which owned iconic brands like Moov, Livon, D'Cold, had turned an investor after he sold his stake in Paras back in 2010. He had made around Rs  1,000 crore by selling the 30 per cent stake he had in Paras Pharma.

Patel had indicated then that he would like to act as an investor who would invest in smaller firms that have potential to grow rapidly.

Patel now dabbles in many things, his firm invests in real estate among other things, sources said.

When contacted, Patel said, "The way forward for us is to expand our footprint both within and outside the state. I cannot share much details as we are bound by a non-disclosure agreement."

Sources, however, indicated that while detailed plans are yet to be worked out, Sterling Hospitals plans to expand beyond Gujarat to neighbouring states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Sterling currently runs seven hospitals at Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Mehsana besides smaller units at Mundra special economic zone and Adipur at Kutch.

No changes, however, are happening on the management front of the Hospital.

At the time of Paras sale, its erstwhile managing director and CEO of Paras Pharmaceuticals, S Raghunandan had joined Reckitt Benckiser, but he chose to move on after eight months. In end 2011 Raghunandan had joined Jyothy Laboratories as its chief executive officer and whole-time director. Sterling Hospitals is now headed by Rajiv Sharma who is its chief executive officer.

Sources close to the development indicated, a routine competitive bidding process was followed for the sale, and Patel-promoted PE fund emerged as the highest bidder.