The healthcare fund of private equity firm Tata Capital Ltd is in talks to invest in a Chennai-based diagnostics company as it seeks to boost its exposure to the sector, a person familiar with the development said.
Tata Capital Healthcare Fund, which is investing out of its second vehicle, is looking to pick a minority stake in Aarthi Scans Pvt. Ltd for about ₹100 crore, the person said, requesting anonymity, and added that the talks are at “quite an advanced stage”.
The person did not provide further details.
This will be the first round of external funding for Aarthi Scans if the deal goes through.
Queries mailed to Aarthi Scans and Tata Healthcare Capital Fund remained unanswered.
Aarthi Scans was founded in 2000 and is currently managed by a family-run team of radiologists, Prasanna Vignesh, Aarthi Prasanna and Arunkumar Govindarajan, according to its website. The company’s multi-specialty diagnostic centres, equipped with 20 advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and computed tomography (CT) scanners, are spread across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
It also has more than 75 collection centres providing lab services.
The company’s net sales in FY21 grew over 37% to ₹168.4 crore from ₹122.1 crore in the previous fiscal, according to VCCEdge, the data and intelligence platform of VCCircle. Net profit increased to ₹42.3 crore during the period from ₹26.7 crore.
The pursuit of diagnostics assets by private equity firms indicates sustained investor interest in this space, especially after the onset of the pandemic.
A bunch of diagnostics companies has matured over the years with significant private equity funding and some have already hit the public market.
