Vasan to raise $120-mn sovereign wealth fund

Chennai-based eyecare and dental hospitals chain, Vasan Healthcare, is planning to raise around $120 million (approximately Rs 624 crore) from a sovereign wealth fund shortly to support the expansion of its clinics chain and its proposed foray into the eye wear business.

“The money will be raised from a single investor. We are likely to close the deal in a couple of weeks,” AM Arun, chairman of Vasan Healthcare.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the TieCon conference here, he said the fund-raising will be from one of the largest sovereign fund. He, however, declined to spell out the name of the investor.

Vasan Healthcare, which had earlier received $50 million (Rs 260 crore) in a three-round funding from Sequoia Capital, currently has 125 clinics across the country and plans to increase to 1,000 over the next five years.

Arun said the company will foray into the opticals retailing business, Chennai to start with. “We are looking at setting up 100 optical retail stores under the Vasan brand in the next couple of years.”

Vasan also plans to expand into verticals such as infertility, skincare, urology, orthopedics and gastroenterology.

Arun said the company was expecting to close the current year with an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of around Rs 150 crore with plans to double it by next year.