Parkway To Establish Transplant Niche In India; Still Keen On Large Acquisition In NCR
Asia's largest healthcare provider Parkway Pantai, which recently pulled out from the discussions with Fortis Healthcare for acquiring the latter’s hospitals and diagnostic arm in India, still looking for acquiring large hospital assets in the country, especially in the national capital region (NCR), as part of its pan India expansion.
The multinational hospital group that is part of the world’s second largest healthcare group IHH Healthcare is keen to make its niche in the country by setting up an extensive complex organ transplant chain, which is the strength of its globally renowned Gleneagles brand.
“We are keen to have a large facility in the NCR region, which is missing in our current city network in the country and our key focus under the Gleneagles brand will remain complex transplant surgeries, including liver, heart, bone marrow among others,” said Ramesh Krishnan, chief executive, India Operations, Parkway Pantai, in a recent interview with BW Businessworld.
“This will create a niche for us in this market, but at the same time, we will continue to have a strategy to cater to the needs of the particular location where we are present. So acquiring existing hospitals assets, which has already established itself in that market understanding the local needs, would always be our preferred targets for acquisition,” Krishnan added.
Entered India market in 2015 by acquiring Hyderabad-based Continental Hospitals and another tertiary care chain Global Hospitals, Parkway Pantai has already integrated Global Hospital chain with its global brand Gleneagles. Currently, it has key healthcare facilities in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru, and Mumbai. However, it has retained the first acquired Continental Hospital in Hyderabad with the same name.
India is currently Parkway’s third biggest market after Malaysia and Singapore, with at least 10 hospitals in the country following the first two acquisitions. In March 2015, Parkway bought 51 per cent stake in Continental Hospitals for some Rs 300 crore. Immediately after this deal, the Singapore-based group also bought 74 per cent equity in Global Hospitals for Rs 1,800 crore.
"We do have a total capacity of about 2100 beds in India, including 1,100 beds of Global Hospitals’ chain in Chennai and Hyderabad, and another 700 beds in Kolkata and Mumbai. With Continental, we have another 300 beds operational at present and we want to add another 1100 beds in the NCR region,” Krishnan said.
