Race for ChrysCapital-owned GeBBS Healthcare: EQT edges ahead of Hillhouse in final lap

Hong Kong's Hillhouse Investment and emerged as the front- runner to acquire a controlling stake in ChrysCapital owned healthcare BPO firm GeBBS Healthcare Solutions.

Swedish investment giant EQT has emerged as the front-runner to buy a controlling stake in GeBBS Healthcare Solutions, a healthcare BPO firm owned by ChrysCapital, edging ahead of rival bidder Hillhouse Investment, three people familiar with the matter said.

The transaction, one of the biggest in the Indian BPO space in recent times, is likely to value GeBBS Healthcare between $800-850 million.

On August 25, Moneycontrol was the first to report that EQT and Hillhouse Investment were the two lead suitors in the final lap of the deal.

" EQT is ahead currently and if things go according to plan, the deal is likely to be signed between them and the sellers ChrysCapital promoted GeBBS Healthcare Solutions in the next few days," said one of the persons above.

A second person confirmed the development.

According to a third person familiar with the strategy of rival suitor Hillhouse Investment, the Hong Kong based firm is no longer active in the process as it opted not to go "above the low $800 million range of its last bid."

"They will continue to explore deals in this space using the Novarete operating platform," the third person added.

In February, The Economic Times had reported that Hillhouse , founded by Lei Zhang, is teaming up with former COO and president of WNS Gautam Barai and Gautam Narayan, ex-partner, Apax Partners, to build an IT-enabled Business Process Management (BPM) platform Novarete.

When contacted, EQT and Hillhouse Investment declined to comment. An email query to ChrysCapital was left unanswered at the time of publishing this article.

Incidentally, EQT, is simultaneously eyeing an IPO of its portfolio firm Sagility India ( earlier called Hinduja Global Solutions), a technology-enabled healthcare focused solutions and services provider. Sagility India filed it's draft red herring prospectus with SEBI in July. EQT had acquired Sagility from the Hinduja Group for $1.2 bn in 2021.

Investment banks Jefferies and Avendus Capital are the joint sell side advisors for the deal, the Moneycontrol report of August 25 had added.

More on the target: GeBBS Healthcare

GeBBS Healthcare Solutions sold a majority stake to ChrysCapital in December 2018 in a deal which valued the former at $175 mn, according to reports.

It is headquartered in Los Angeles and has its delivery centres in India, Philippines and Dominican Republic. According to its website, the firm provides solutions in revenue cycle management, patient contact solutions, HIM ( health information management solutions), extended business office and risk adjustment HCC ( hierarchical conditional categories) coding solutions.

As per the website, Nitin Thakor is the Founder and Chairman of GeBBS Healthcare Solutions while Dr Milind Godbole is the MD & CEO. Sanjay Kukreja and Akshat Babbar are the two ChrysCapital nominees on the firm's board.