Downtrend yes, but no threat to IPO, says Aster

Kcohi: The current downtrend in the capital markets is unlikely to hit the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the Aster DM Health Care Ltd scheduled to open on February 12, said its chairman and managing director Azad Moopen. 

The healthcare sector has remained either immune to the downtrend or has moved up, he told reporters in Kochi even as markets closed in the red on Wednesday, the seventh consecutive session of trading. The BSE Sensex was down by 113 points while NSE NIFTY 21.55 points on Wednesday.    

The Aster DM IPO is seeking to raise Rs 725 crore from the markets. The capital raised will be used for retiring the high cost debt of the company to the tune of over Rs 564 crore and another Rs 110 crore for buying medical equipments for the new hospitals, Dr Moopen said.

The growth potential for the healthcare sector in India and GCC looks quite positive, said Dr Harish Pillai, CEO of Aster Medcity in Kochi. The healthcare proposal announced in the Union Budget is expected to provide a fresh impetus to the sector in the coming days, he said. Dr Pillai also remained bullish about the medical value travel to India and Kerala showing an uptrend in the coming days. “The data for the past three years show that the medical value traveller coming to Kerala is showing a growth of nearly 20 per cent,” he said.       

Aster DM Health Care, which had a humble beginning as a single-doctor clinic in UAE in 1987, has now grown into complete healthcare provider with seven hospitals, 89 clinics and over 200 retail pharmacies in countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and 11 hospitals and six clinics in India. 

The company is also having a clinic at Philippines. It is currently generating over 80 per cent of revenue from operations in GCC region while the remaining come from India. 

According to Dr Moopen the revenue from India go up to 35 per cent in the coming years.