Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences gets Rs 1300 crore investment from True North

Mumbai : In one of the largest healthcare transactions in India, the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) will get USD 200 million from True North, a leading private equity fund.

"True North will invest over USD 200 million in the KIMS Group. This investment will be for the stake held by Ascent Capital Advisors India Pvt Ltd and OrbiMed Advisors Llc and as a primary capital infusion to fund the growth plans of the KIMS Group across India and the Middle East. True North will hold around 40 per cent stake in India," a company statement said here.

KIMS is a healthcare group providing healthcare services across India and the Middle East (West Asia).

"Together, with a shared value system, we hope to continue our growth and become one of the largest healthcare providers in India and the Middle East in the next 3 to 5 years," KIMS Chairman M I Sahadulla said.

Satish Chander, Managing Director of True North, said, "We believe private equity has a key role in funding Indian healthcare services to address the sector's supply-demand gap.

"True North has played an active part by investing in the sector and it continues to be a key focus area for us. We have had the opportunity to evaluate numerous organisations in this space and have made nine investments across our different funds."

KIMS is the largest corporate hospital chain in Kerala and has over 1,500 beds across 6 hospitals. KIMS' first and largest hospital in Thiruvananthapuram is a 650-bed multi- speciality hospital.

The group has a presence across five countries in the Middle East, where it has 2 hospitals and 6 medical centres. The group employs more than 6,000 healthcare providers, including 600 doctors.