Multi-Speciality hospitals in India - Evolution of hospitals deals post COVID

The industry is also witnessing a strong wave of consolidation, as standalone and single-region players are increasingly being acquired by regional and national chains. This trend is expected to continue as larger chains move to solidify their presence particularly in tier two and three cities, creating an integrated and competitive healthcare landscape. Further, growing interest from private equity (PE) funds including marquee global funds is providing a large capital pool to back scaled up assets and accelerating this trend. The average deal value has gone up significantly, indicating higher appetite of these PE funds to pursue large/control transactions. These funds are also actively pursuing platform approach in India to create larger and more integrated hospital networks. More hospitals are now also exploring public markets to provide exit opportunities to PE funds, further shaping the sector’s evolution.

The next decade for this sector is also seeing new trends into focus, including evolving differentiated short-stay smaller format chains, senior doctors building large, sizeable practices that will become the next area of focus for acquisitions/investment by large chains and PE funds. Increasing coverage and awareness of government led schemes and visionary regional multi-speciality hospitals operators on track to create large platforms will further transform the industry. With strong fundamentals and investor confidence, India’s multi-speciality hospital sector is poised for sustained growth and innovation.