Avigo PE Investments picks up 9.27% in SRL as pre IPO deal

Avigo Capital Partners, an Indian private equity fund manager with a focus on private equity investments in the SME sector in India, today announced the signing of share subscription agreement with Super Religare Laboratories (SRL), one of the leading diagnostic services companies in India, offering diagnostic testing (including pathology and radiology), preventive care testing and clinical research trial testing.

With this deal, Avigo, through Avigo PE Investments Limited (Mauritius), its investment arm, will subscribe to 9.27% of the post investment equity share capital of SRL for an aggregate amount of Rs 100 crore. As of December 31, 2010, SRL had a network, either directly owned by it or operated through franchisees or joint ventures, consisting of 8 reference laboratories, 7 centers of excellence, 181 network laboratories (comprising of 164 pathology and 17 radiology laboratories), 15 wellness centers and 888 collection centers (including 23 abroad). During the nine months period ended December 31, 2010, SRL served over 4.20 million customers and performed approximately 33,000 diagnostic tests per day. It provides routine (hematology and chemistry), specialized (histopathology, immunohistochemistry and cytogenetic) and esoteric tests (molecular assays and flow cytometry). It acquired Piramal Diagnostic Services Private Limited (PDSPL) in August 2010 to strengthen its presence in the radiology services and now is the largest radiology service provider in the country, based on total income and number of patients screened (Source: The IMaCS Report). SRL has filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on February 17, 2011 for a public issue of up to 28,000,000 equity shares of face value Rs 10/- each (including a private placement of up to 8,000,000 equity shares through a pre-IPO placement) for cash at a premium to be determined through 100% book building process. The document is awaiting clearance from SEBI.