National, July 29, 2022: ASG Eye Hospitals, India’s leading eye hospital chain, today announced an INR1,500cr.investmentled by General Atlantic and Kedaara Capital,representing India’s largest fund raise in the eye care industry and largest private equity transaction in the single specialty health care industry to date. General Atlantic and Kedaara Capital will join existing operations-focused healthcare invest or Foundation Holdings in supporting and fuelling ASG Eye Hospitals’ growth towards their mission to become one of Asia’s leading eye hospital chains. The transaction is also expected to pave the way for anexit for Invest corp,who invested in the company in 2017.Over the last 3 years,ASG has doubledits number of hospitals and tripledits revenue.
Dr Arun Singhvi, Chairman and Managing Director and Dr Shilpi Gang, Co-Founder, ASG Hospital Pvt.Ltd. said,“Since 2005, ASG Eye Hospitals’ doctor-led model has stood for clinical excellence and qualityeye-careforall.Wehavebeenfortunatetoworkwithlike-minded,value-additiveinvestorslikeFoundation Holdings that have been true partners and have strengthened our model, allowing for ourexpansion across India to establish over 50 hospitals. We are delighted and excited to welcome GeneralAtlantic and Kedaara Capital on our mission to enhance the delivery of quality eye care for all andimprove quality of life across India.This cornerstone investment is a testament to the strength of ourbusiness model and further reinforces ASG Eye Hospitals’ continued success at attracting talentedinvestors. We also express our sincere appreciation to the Investcorp team for their strategic supportover the past5years.”
Aakash Sachdev, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Foundation Holdings said,“Dr. Singhvi, Dr. Gangand the team have built ASG Eye Hospitals into a uniquely capable platform that is at the forefront ofeye care in India today and has impacted millions of lives. We have successfully worked together todeliver robust growth through a mix of organic and inorganic initiatives focused on the addition ofquality capacity to rapidly scale the retail healthcare delivery model across India. This fundraise isexpected to accelerate the realization of ASG Eye Hospitals’ vision to become one of Asia’s preeminenteye care provider, with plans to establish a network of over 200 hospitals within the next 36 months.With the imminent planned acquisition in South India and our high-quality M&A pipeline of regionalplayersspanningkeymarketsacrossthecountry,weareexcitedtowelcomeandpartnerwithtwohighlyregarded and forward-thinking investors at this transformational inflection point in the history of ASGEye Hospitals.”
According to the Lancet Global Health Commission’s report on global eye health, 62 million people inIndia are estimated to be visually impaired, with 8 million being afflicted with blindness. Cataract anddiabeticretinopathyarethemajorcausesofocularmorbidityandblindnessifnottreatedintime.Withtimely medical intervention on behalf of providers like ASG Eye Hospitals, the number of completevisionlosscasescouldbereduceddramatically.Thereisashortageofophthalmologistsandoptometristsinsmaller cities, towns, and rural areas – India has only an estimated25,000 ophthalmologistsandonly45,000 optometrists againstarequired125,000.Expandinginfrastructure,trainingeyespecialistsandbetterutilizationoftechnologicalinnovationineye-carewillbe essential in stemming the rising number of cases, and ASG Eye Hospitals’ expertise is anticipated toplay a vitalrolein achievingprogressacrossIndia.
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