RIL acquires healthcare startup Karkinos for Rs 375 cr in all-cash deal

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has acquired technology-driven and oncology-focused healthcare platform Karkinos for Rs 375 crore, the firm said on Saturday.

Reliance Strategic Business Ventures (RSBVL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mumbai-listed India's most valuable company, completed the acquisition of Karkinos Healthcare Pvt Ltd with allotment of requisite shares, the firm said in a stock exchange filing.

Karkinos was incorporated in India on July 24, 2020, and is in the business of providing technology-driven innovative solutions for the early detection, diagnosis, and management of cancer. It had a turnover of about Rs 22 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal.

"Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Ltd has on December 27, 2024, subscribed to and has been allotted 10 mn equity shares of Rs 10 each, for cash, aggregating Rs 10 crore and 365 million optionally fully convertible debentures of Rs 10 each, for cash, aggregating Rs 365 crore of Karkinos," according to the filing.

Karkinos, it said, has cancelled the existing outstanding 30,075 equity shares held by the erstwhile shareholders of the company in accordance with the approved resolution plan.

It, however, did not give details.

Its previous prominent investors included Ewart Investments Limited (100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Sons), Reliance Digital Health Ltd (a subsidiary of Reliance Industries), Mayo Clinic (US), Sundar Raman (Director at Reliance Foundation Youth Sports and former COO of Indian Premier League since 2008), and Ravi Kant (ex-MD of Tata Motors).

The company is focused on providing end-to-end services relating to early detection and effective treatment of cancer at substantially lower than prevailing rates, while still generating healthy profitability. In order to meet this vision, Karkinos started partnering with hospitals to provide oncology services (testing, radiation therapy, etc.).

The company has partnered with around 60 hospitals till December 2023. It is through a subsidiary setting up a 150-bed multispecialty cancer hospital at Imphal, Manipur. Going forward, its source of income was said to be via Advanced Cancer Care Diagnostics and Research (ACCDR), Distributed Cancer Care Network (DCCN), tie-ups with corporates for early diagnosis of cancer, and cancer care hospitals.

"The acquisition of Karkinos will help expand the health services business portfolio of the Reliance group," the filing said.

The resolution plan for Karkinos was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai Bench, and no additional governmental or regulatory approvals were needed for the transaction, it added.

Earlier, on December 10, Reliance announced that the NCLT had approved the resolution plan submitted by RSBVL for Karkinos under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.