Investors in Aster DM look to pare their stake in hospital biz

Foreign institutional investors in Aster DM Healthcare, the listed Indian arm controlled by the UAE-based hospital conglomerate by the same name, are looking to offload 30% of their stake in the Indian healthcare business for about $300 million, reports say. Investors in the Bengaluru-headquartered hospital chain are in talks with private equity fund KKR and hospital chain Max Healthcare Institute, reports said.

The UAE-based promoters own 41.88% and FIIs 38.63% in the company. As per the reports, Aster’s investors Olympus Capital, which has a 19% stake and Mauritius-based investment firm Rimco, with a 12% stake are considering the sale.

Aster reported a 24% fall in profit in its fourth quarter earnings for fiscal 2022-23 on Friday. For the full year, the decline in profit was 19.2%. The company is attributing this to the launch of five new hospitals across GCC and India.

Revenue from operations, however, grew 16% for the full fiscal year, reaching Rs 11,933 crore. For the fourth quarter, operational revenue went up 20% to Rs 3,262 crore.

For the company’s Indian segment, full year revenue rose 25% to Rs 2,983 crore. The company clocked its fourth quarter revenue of Rs 804 crore, up 32%.

The company, which has presence in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has increased its total capacity of beds in India to 4,317 from 3,905 last year.