Eye care provider Dr Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals has secured a fresh round of funding from asset management firm TPG and Singapore-based investment company Temasek to fuel its expansion plans, a top official said on Thursday.
The Chennai-based Dr Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals has planned to expand its network in domestic and overseas, Chairman professor Amar Agarwal said. “We have a new fundraise of about Rs 664 crore and now adding to that we are adding debt and internal accruals of Rs 1,200 crore and we are expecting to have 300 hospitals in the next three years,” he told PTI in an interaction. Dr Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals currently has 155 health care facilities in 10 countries.
TPG and Singapore-based investment company Temasek have already invested about Rs 1,050 crore into Dr Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals sometime back while today’s investment is a fresh round of fundraise. Agarwal said the company was looking at strengthening its presence in Maharashtra and also foray into Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and National Capital Region markets with the expansion plans. “We are looking at opening 20 hospitals in Maharashtra and 10 in Mumbai alone,” he said responding to a query. Besides the setting up of tertiary hospitals, Agarwal said they would also set up 100 eye clinics in tier III locations.
“These eye clinics would offer services to patients in the region and would further refer a patient to the tertiary hospital of Agarwal’s located in major towns if the patient requires further treatment,” CEO Dr Adil Agarwal said. The tertiary hospitals would be bigger hospitals and present in major towns and locations. These eye clinics would be set up in a 1,000 sq ft land by the group and would have a doctor, optometrist and about three to four staff, he said. “In Tamil Nadu we have 12 eye clinics. this will be increased. In total, we are planning to have 100 eye clinics across the country,” he said.
Amar Agarwal said the expansion plan includes setting up facilities in Africa where they are present in 16 locations currently. “In Africa we have 16 hospitals, in Zambia we have four hospitals. and we will be touching 40-50 in the next two years. We are also going to enter places like Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo…,” he said. Agarwal said the eye care major has secured Rs 1,700 crore in the last 12 months. “We continue to be excited about the growth potential of the company (Dr Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals) and share the vision of providing world class financial outcomes along with compelling financial performance,” TPG Growth Business Unit Partner Ankur Thadani said.
“Dr Agarwal’s has the potential to become the global leader in the eye care segment,” he added. Veda Corporate Advisors was the financial advisor to Dr Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals on this transaction. Along with the expansion of the network, the eye care provider would also be investing in technological advancements for vision correction such as SMILE, Laser Cataract Surgery and for advanced technologies to treat Vitreo-retinal diseases.
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