Hyderabad, Aug. 3: Apollo Hospitals may see dilution of promoter’s stake as the company seeks investors to fund its growth.
“We need to invest about Rs 3,000 crore during 2012 and 2014 for adding 4,000 beds. Funds are not an issue. A lot of investors are interested in investing in our company and we are in talks with them,” said chairman, Dr Prathap C. Reddy. However, bringing in new investors would reduce promoter’s stake, which currently stands at 37 per cent.
Analysts feel growth for Apollo has been slower than peers as the company hasn’t raised additional capital to fund expansion.
Apart from its own domestic expansion, Apollo may also enter into a technical tie up with Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah, which holds a substantial stake in the company, in Asia Pacific. Khazanah recently acquired a controlling stake in Parkway, a Singapore-based hospital chain from Delhi-based Fortis. However, such a tie up is going to be technical rather than financial.
The healthcare major is on a growth spree. Currently, it has three projects in Mumbai and plans to set up a chain of smaller specialised hospitals called Apollo Reach in tier 2 cities.
The chairman said the promoters have already brought in some money in the company but they are open to availing funding from banks for its expansion. “The company can also raise additional debt from banks as the debt-equity ratio was low at 0.05:1,” Dr Reddy said on the sidelines of a function to announce the hospital’s tie-up with Jamshedpur-based management school XLRI to train its managers.
The company is also planning to set up a hospital at one of the international airports in India to cater to foreign patients.