Milestone Religare To Invest Rs 31Cr In Healthcare Global

Online, February 26, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Milestone Religare Investment Advisors has announced an investment of Rs 31.2 crore in Bengaluru-based specialty hospital chain HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd (HCG).

HCG has a pan-India footprint with 20 super-specialty cancer care hospitals. It also operates CyberKnife, a state-of-the-art radiation treatment for cancer in Bengaluru.

The deal would take Milestone Religare's exposure to the healthcare sector to around Rs 100 crore. In November last year, the PE firm invested Rs 60 crore in Hyderabad's multispecialty hospital Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Limited (KIMS).

Equirus Capital acted as the exclusive advisor to HCG on this transaction. VCCircle reported last week that Milestone Religare will invest in HCG.

HCG, which has been growing at a compounded rate of 50%, has earlier raised several rounds of funding. PremjiInvest, the private equity fund of Wipro chairman Azim Premji, made a commitment to invest $20 million in HCG back in 2008. IDFC Private Equity invested Rs 50 crore in 2006 while Evolvence invested another Rs 22 crore in 2007 in HCG.

"The Indian healthcare sector is on a growth path. Along with an increase in chronic diseases, there is an increasing incidence of lifestyle related diseases. Cancer is one of the largest non-communicable diseases in India with around 3 million patients", said Rajesh Singhal, Managing Partner of Milestone Religare.

Dr. Amit Varma, board and investment committee member of Milestone Religare, will join the board of HCG.