After Amazon tie-up, Apollo Hospitals’ pharmacy biz attracts attention from General Atlantic, SoftBank, others

Amazon’s partnership with Apollo Hospitals’ pharmacy business is a precursor to equity stake sale in Apollo HealthCo, sources told Moneycontrol, as General Atlantic, SoftBank and a clutch of private equity players are in talks to buy a minority stake in the vertical valuing it at close to $3 billion. 

Apollo HealthCo, a 100% subsidiary of Apollo Hospitals, could raise close to $500 million through the stake sale, the persons said.

Replying to emailed queries, Apollo Hospitals said it “will continue to pursue capital raising plans”. General Atlantic and SoftBank did not offer any comments.

Moneycontrol was the first to report on the Amazon partnership in November which has been recently and formally announced by Apollo Hospitals. 

In an exchange notification, the company has recently said, “Apollo Pharmacies Ltd has decided to list its pharmacy products on www.amazon.in ("Amazon India"). With this listing of products from Apollo Pharmacies, Amazon India customers shall have access to pharmacy products across India, delivered by Amazon.”

Online retail giant Amazon and Apollo HealthCo’s partnership is aimed at sharpening the omnichannel focus of the pharmacy business. This will give Amazon the firepower needed to fight Reliance and Tata group which have entered the fray with acquisitions.

The sources said that the non-exclusive nature of the partnership is a disappointment as others are now eyeing a stake in Apollo HealthCo but the tie-up does give a leg-up to Apollo’s online pharmacy business.

Online pharmacy is becoming a fiercely competitive space as Reliance recently bought Netmeds and Tata Digital acquired 1mg. Amazon’s partnership with a large offline player will further heat up the space.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprises had announced the merger of its online and offline pharmacies and telemedicine businesses through a slump sale into 100 per cent subsidiary Apollo HealthCo last year.