General Atlantic, Kedaara Capital lead Rs 1,500 Cr investment in ASG Eye Hospitals – ET HealthWorld

New Delhi: ASG Eye Hospitals announced Rs 1,500 crore investment led by General Atlantic and Kedaara Capital, representing India’s largest fundraise in the eye care industry and largest private equity transaction in the single specialty healthcare industry to date. General Atlantic and Kedaara Capital will join existing operations-focused healthcare investor Foundation Holdings in supporting and fuelling ASG Eye Hospitals’ growth towards their mission to become one of Asia’s leading eye hospital chains. The transaction is also expected to pave the way for an exit for Investcorp, who invested in the company in 2017. Over the last 3 years, ASG has doubled its number of hospitals and tripled its revenue.

Dr Arun Singhvi, Chairman and Managing Director and Dr Shilpi Gang, Co-Founder, ASG Hospital Pvt Ltd said, “We are delighted and excited to welcome General Atlantic and Kedaara Capital on our mission to enhance the delivery of quality eye care for all and improve quality of life across India. This cornerstone investment is a testament to the strength of our business model and further reinforces ASG Eye Hospitals’ continued success at attracting talented investors. We also express our sincere appreciation to the Investcorp team for their strategic support over the past five years.”

Aakash Sachdev, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Foundation Holdings said, “This fundraise is expected to accelerate the realisation of ASG Eye Hospitals’ vision to become one of Asia’s preeminent eye care provider, with plans to establish a network of over 200 hospitals within the next 36 months. With the imminent planned acquisition in South India and our high-quality M&A pipeline of regional players spanning key markets across the country, we are excited to welcome and partner with two highly regarded and forward-thinking investors at this transformational inflection point in the history of ASG Eye Hospitals.”

There is a shortage of ophthalmologists and optometrists in smaller cities, towns, and rural areas – India has only an estimated 25,000 ophthalmologists and only 45,000 optometrists against a required 125,000. Expanding infrastructure, training eye specialists and better utilisation of technological innovation in eye-care will be essential in stemming the rising number of cases.

Shantanu Rastogi, Managing Director at General Atlantic, said, “We are excited to back the ASG team in their journey towards becoming not only a leading national provider for eye-care services in the country, but also a partner of choice for the country’s most skilled ophthalmologists and medical professionals.”

Nishant Sharma, CIO & Managing Partner of Kedaara Capital said, “We are excited to team up with Dr Singhvi, Dr Gang and the ASG team to bring exceptional capabilities, innovation, technology-powered approach, and commitment to improving eye-health in India. Kedaara, with its operational expertise, will support ASG to bolster its next phase of growth and realize the vision of becoming the leading eye care franchise”

Gaurav Sharma, Head of Private Equity, Investcorp India said, “We backed Dr Arun Singhvi’s vision for ASG Eye Hospitals in 2017 when it was largely a Rajasthan-focused eye-care are chain. Today, I am delighted to say that ASG has exceeded our expectations with their execution to become one of India’s leading Eye Care Chain with presence across the length and breadth of the country. ASG has made quality eye-care available to millions of people during this period. We are incredibly proud of our association with ASG and would like to wish them the best for the future as they continue to grow from strength to strength.”

ICICI Securities acted as the exclusive financial advisor for the transaction. AZB & Partners as legal counsel to ASG Eye Hospitals. Khaitan & Co acted as legal counsel to Foundation Holdings and InvestCorp, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co acted as legal counsel to General Atlantic and Veritas Legal acted as legal counsel to Kedaara Capital.