Wockhardt Hospital to hit market with Rs 800 cr IPO

Bangalore, Jan 24 (UNI) Wockhardt Hospitals Limited, one of the largest private healthcare services companies in India, will raise Rs 800 crore by issuing 25,087,097 equity shares of Rs ten each in the price band of between Rs 280 and Rs 310 per equity share.

Addressing a press conference here today, Wockhardt Hospitals Limited Managing Director Anil Kamath said the IPO proceeds would be utilised mainly to meet the cost of greenfield and brownfield hospitals across the country.

The issue opens on January 31 and closes on February five, Mr Kamath added.

While Rs 568 crore would be spent on infrastructure development, the balance would be utilised to repay some of the short term loans.

The proposed greenfield hospitals, for which land had already been acquired, would be set up at Kolkata, Mumbai, Bhopal, Ludhiana and Jabalpur.

''The company also intends to use a part of the proceeds of the IPO for investment in acquiring existing hospitals and other strategic investments,'' he added.

Mr Kamath said the increased penetration of Health Insurance, Medical Value Travel, shifting demographics and socio-economic trends and shifting spending patterns among the Indians have created more demand for healthcare services and improved availability of hospital beds and doctors.

According to a study by CRIS-INFAC, nearly Rs 668 billion will be required by 2011 and Rs 1,654 billion by 2016 for ramping up the healthcare infrastructure of which only one-fifth is expected to come from the government.

''The remaining amount has to come from private sector,''Mr Kamath said adding with the company's expansion plan, the total number of beds in Wockhardt Hospitals will touch 4,793 from the present 1,374. During the year ending March 31, 2007, the hospitals performed over 10,000 interventional cardiac and 1000 orthopaedic procedures, 400 neuro and spine surgeries.

The Super-specialty Hospital in Mumbai which receivedinternational accreditation from Joint Commission International (JCI) made a foray into the domain of heart-transplantation process last year in association with Harvard Medical International (HMI) of Harvard Medical School.

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