India's ASG Eye Hospitals gets $188m from Kedaara, GA

Investcorp reportedly holds a 15% stake. It is not clear if fellow existing investor Foundation Holdings, a Dubai-headquartered multi-family office, is participating in the transaction. It was noted in a statement that Foundation would continue supporting the business.

The deal is described as India’s largest investment to date in the eyecare industry and the largest-ever private equity transaction in a local single specialty healthcare provider. The same claim was made as recently as May when TPG Growth and Temasek Holdings invested INR 10.5bn in Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital.

ASG was founded in 2005 by eye doctors Arun Singhvi and Shilpi Gang, who fill the roles of chairman and CEO, respectively. It now has more than 50 locations. Services cover cataracts, glaucoma, cosmetic eye surgery, laser vision treatment, 24-hour emergency services, and cornea transplants, among other procedures.

The company has pursued a mix of organic and inorganic initiatives focused on the addition of capacity to scale the retail healthcare delivery model in India. The number of hospitals has doubled in the past three years, and revenue is said to have tripled during that time.

“We backed Dr. Arun Singhvi’s vision for ASG Eye Hospitals in 2017 when it was largely a Rajasthan-focused eye-care are chain,” Gaurav Sharma, head of private equity for Investcorp India, said.

“Today, I am delighted to say that ASG has exceeded our expectations with their execution to become one of India’s leading Eye Care Chain with a presence across the length and breadth of the country. ASG has made quality eye care available to millions of people during this period.”

ASG has attracted significant private equity attention citing its replicable model, focus on underserved populations, and culture of entrepreneurialism. Previous investors also include Sequoia Capital India, IDFC Alternatives, and Singapore’s Symphony Asia Holdings. The latter joined Foundation in a INR 3bn round in 2019.

“General Atlantic has followed ASG Eye Hospitals for several years, and we are strongly encouraged by Drs. Singhvi and Gang’s commitment to clinical rigour and quality, grounded in academic research and training,” Shantanu Rastogi, a managing director at General Atlantic, added.

“We are excited to back the ASG team in their journey towards becoming not only a leading national provider for eye-care services in the country, but also a partner of choice for the country’s most skilled ophthalmologists and medical professionals.”

The latest investment will support the exploration and construction of an M&A pipeline of regional players covering India with a view to solidifying the company's local presence by acquiring new hospitals. The long-term goal is to become one of Asia’s leading eye hospital chains.

About 62m people in India are estimated to be visually impaired, with 8m afflicted with blindness. Cataracts and diabetic retinopathy are the major causes of ocular morbidity and blindness if not treated in time.

There is a shortage of ophthalmologists and optometrists in smaller cities, towns, and rural areas – India has only an estimated 25,000 ophthalmologists and only 45,000 optometrists against a required 125,000.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Healthcare
• Expansion
• Trade sale
• India
• Kedaara Capital
• General Atlantic
• Investcorp