Dr Agarwals Health Care plans IPO for $300 million

Dr Agarwals Health Care Ltd (AHCL), parent of publicly listed Dr Agarwals Eye Hospital Ltd (AEHL), is planning a $300–400 million public share sale later this year, three people aware of the plans said.

- Ranjani Raghavan

The company, which is 60% owned by TPG and Temasek, will hear IPO pitches from investment bankers this week, the people cited above said, adding they expect it to fetch a valuation of $1.8–2 billion.

"The IPO will be a mixture of primary and secondary fundraise, with investors TPG and Temasek likely to seek a partial exit," one of the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. "The final deal contours will be decided in a few months."

"The parent is looking to list. A reverse merger with the subsidiary would not be equitable for all parties, but after the listing of the parent, the two entities will merge," the person cited above added.

AHCL did not respond to queries, while Temasek and TPG declined to comment.

The hospital chain was founded by Dr Amar Agarwal as a single clinic in Chennai in 1957. Over the past few years, it set up chains across several states. While the parent company AHCL has a larger number of assets under its belt, the listed subsidiary AEHL has fewer.