Quadria in talks to buy into dialysis chain NephroPlus
Quadria Capital, the Asia healthcare-focused private equity fund, is in advanced talks to acquire a significant minority stake in India's largest dialysis chain NephroPlus, valuing the latter at ₹2,000 crore ($250 million), said two sources aware of the development.
Existing investors — the US-based Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) — will exit fully by selling about 30% stake together, while the largest shareholder Investcorp is likely to sell a small stake in this round, said sources. Investcorp owns about 35-40% stake in NephroPlus.
IIFL is another investor with 5-6% stake while promoters hold about 30% stake in NephroPlus.
Founded in 2009 by Vikram Vuppala, Sandeep Gudibanda and Kamal Shah, NephroPlus operates 300 plus dialysis centres in more than 180 cities across four countries. NephroPlus treats 22,000 patients per month and has performed 8 million treatments to date.
Existing investors started exploring their exit from NephroPlus at a valuation of ₹2,000 crore, ET first reported in October.
Mails sent to Vuppala, CEO of NephroPlus, IFC, BVP, and Quadria spokespersons did not elicit any response, while Investcorp spokesperson declined to comment.
NephroPlus is expected to have an Ebitda of ₹90-100 crore in FY24, and the company may be valued at 20X Ebitda multiple, said sources.
In 2021, NephroPlus raised $24 million (₹180 crore) as Series E funding round led by IIFL Asset Management (IIFL AMC), along with existing investors Investcorp and BVP. Till date, NephroPlus has raised about $104 million through several rounds.
In January 2023, NephroPlus received about ₹70 crore loan from Asian Development Bank to expand in Uzbekistan.
