Super Religare Laboratories plans IPO in 2011

Fortis Healthcare plans to launch an initial public offer (IPO) for its diagnostics business unit, Super Religare Laboratories (SRL), in the next calendar year (2011), a top company official said today.

SRL had acquired the diagnostics business of Piramal Healthcare for Rs 600 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal.

"We have decided to list our diagnostics business unit Super Religare Laboratories in the next calendar year," Fortis Chairman Malvinder Singh told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Fortis Cancer Institute at Mulund.

This is the second cancer institute launched by the Fortis group after its NCR facility.

The company has not fixed any timeframe for the secondary listing of the Fortis Healthcare Group on the Singapore stock exchange, he said, adding it was on the lookout for inorganic growth opportunities in both domestic and Asian markets.

"We are looking for the right (acquisition) opportunities. We are open to acquisitions in India and in Asia," Singh said, even as the group eyes consolidation of its Asian business.

In the next 2-3-years, the hospital chain will add another 3,000 beds to take its total bed capacity to 10,000, he said.

Asked about a foray into the health insurance space, Singh was non-committal, saying the group was working on it.

The Fortis Healthcare Chairman said that financial services and healthcare would remain the core businesses of the group. "We have clear plans for both," he said.

According to a company official, the cost of setting up a cancer facility, such as the one in Mulund, is close to Rs 80 crore.

More such cancer institutes were on the radar and the primary focus would be India, the company's Managing Director, Shivinder Singh, said.

Well-known model Lisa Ray, who is a cancer survivor, was the guest of honour at the function. The institute also announced the 'Fortis Lisa Ray Award for Conquering Cancer', which would be given to one woman annually who has conquered cancer with confidence.