Chennai-based Dr. Agarwal’s Healthcare Ltd. (DAHCL) has raised ₹215 crore of debt from the UK Government’s development finance arm, CDC Group, to expand its geographical footprint of eye care chains across India, Africa and South Asia along with significant investments in latest technology for super-specialty eye care. Veda Corporate Advisors, a mid-market investment bank advised the company on the transaction.
“We will be investing ₹500 crore in the next three years to double our network and new innovations and technology,” said Amar Agarwal, chairman of Dr. Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals. Currently, the group has 91 hospitals with 77 centres in India (across 12 states) and 14 hospitals in Africa (across 10 countries). It intends to scale this up to 150 hospitals over the next three years.
With this funding, the group has recently set up its first hospital in Mumbai in partnership with Advanced Eye Institute in Navi Mumbai. “This is the first time we are entering the Mumbai market,” Dr. Agarwal said. He added, “This particular market will see a combination of brownfield and greenfield investments.”
The group that started as a single facility in Chennai in 1957, had raised ₹270 crore investment from Temasek, a global investment company head-quartered in Singapore, earlier this year.
The funding received will also be utilised for overseas expansion. “We are looking at the South East India market too”, Dr. Agarwal said. Over the next three years, the group is targeting a daily walk in number of over 1 lakh across its centres. “Currently, over 15,000 patients walk into our facilities. The idea is to scale this up to 30,000 and then to 1 lakh,” Dr. Agarwal added.
Adil Agarwal, CEO, Dr. Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals said that with CDC’s focus on Africa and South Asia, the group is looking to bolster its international presence. “We are also looking to expand aggressively in Maharashtra, Kerala and central India besides penetrating deeper into our existing markets. We will also be investing more in cutting-edge technology such as SMILE, Femto Laser and Robotic Cataract Surgery across our centres,” he said.
Srini Nagarajan, managing director and head of Asia CDC Group said, “We will share our broad healthcare sector experience with this ambitious management team, helping to bring eye care to many people in India, Africa and beyond.”
