TRUE NORTH TO INVEST $200 M IN KIMS HOSPITAL

Leading private equity fund True North will invest $200 million in Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), a company statement said.

True North (formerly India Value Fund Advisors) will buy about 40% stake in KIMS held by existing investors — Ascent Capital Advisors India Pvt Ltd and OrbiMed Advisors Llc — and do a primary capital infusion to fund its growth plans across India and West Asia.

MI Sahadulla, chairman of the KIMS Group, and his management team, with a board majority, will continue to run the company both in India and West Asia, said the company statement.

Mint reported in January that True North was close to buying a controlling stake in KIMS, a hospital chain operating in Kerala and West Asia.

True North became the sole contender after a consortium of global private equity funds TPG Capital Lp and Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd dropped out of talks, Mint reported on January 26.

“We believe that 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 organizations in this space and have made nine investments across our different funds,” said Satish Chander, managing director of True North.

KIMS, founded in 2002 by Sahadulla and founding promoters, has over 1,500 beds across six hospitals. KIMS’s first and largest hospital in Thiruvananthapuram is a 650-bed multi-speciality quaternary care hospital.