Three healthcare-focused funds keen to pick minority stake in Morpheus IVF

MUMBAI: Morpheus IVF wants to sell a minority stake for which it has attracted the interest of major healthcare-focused funds Quadria Capital, Asian Healthcare Fund and Tata Healthcare Fund. The promoters of Morpheus IVF want to sell a significant minority stake for around $15 million, a latest report in Economic Times.

Morpheus was Founded in 2009 in Mumbai in the partnership with IVF International, a German company as the primary promoter. It has the 30-plus chain of centers working on a partnership model where it financially partners with local specialists whereby leveraging on their individual brand and sharing the set-up cost.

According to a report in The Economic Times quoting sources, the company is looking to raise growth capital for opening up new centers for which the company has appointed investment bank 7i Capital to look for buyers.

Speaking with Economic Times a person said, "Unlike its many peers, the company has managed to keep its business model asset light where Capex requirement is low."

The IVF market in India is at emerging stage which is growing at 20 per cent annually. The Rs 1,000-crore market sees around 1 lakh embryo transfer cycles annually with the average cost Rs 1 lakh for each transfer cycle.

Speaking about the development, a source told ET "The increasing customer awareness and the changing lifestyle leading to fertility related issues in new-age couples is going to aid the growth of the sector going forward."