While PE investments have been taking a beating, healthcare ventures are still looking attractive for equity players. Goldman Sachs today invested Rs 220 crore in Bangalore-based firm, reports CNBC-TV18's Shreya Roy.
Bucking sluggish investment trends, healthcare has seen yet another big PE investment.
Goldman Sachs has picked up 26% in the Bangalore-based Nova Medical Centers, a chain of specialty surgical centers, for Rs 220 crore. Nova's initial investor, New Enterprise Associates, has also pumped in Rs 80 crore, taking the total investment to Rs 300 crore. This is Goldman Sachs second big investment in the healthcare space, after the USD 115 million infusion in Max India.
Suresh Soni, Chairman and chief executive officer, Nova Medical Services, says "It is a tough financial environment, but healthcare appears to be bucking the trend."
Venture Intelligence says 30% of all investments made by private equity firms in the January-March quarter went into healthcare and life sciences companies. PWC adds that USD 530 million was invested in healthcare compared with the USD 80 million in the last quarter of 2011.
Nova plans to deploy the funds in 25 surgical and fertility centers each across India in cities like Chennai, Jaipur and Kanpur among other locations. It is also expanding into the Middle East.
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