Bengaluru-based Manipal Hospitals based multi-specialty healthcare providers, today announced the acquisition of Columbia Asia Hospitals. The transfer of ownership to Manipal Hospitals is expected to be completed post regulatory approvals. This acquisition makes Manipal Hospitals India’s second largest hospital chain after Apollo Hospitals. Post the deal, Columbia Asia will be rebranded as Manipal Hospitals.
Columbia Asia Hospitals is part of Seattle-based Columbia Pacific Management, a private healthcare company owned by a US-based investment fund, International Columbia USA Columbia Pacific. The company has 17 hospitals in South-East Asia – 12 in Malaysia, three in Indonesia and two hospitals and a clinic in Vietnam and 11 hospitals in India. Manipal Hospitals will add these 11 hospitals to its existing hospitals to command a strength of 27 hospitals across 15 cities with 7,200+beds,and a talent pool of 4,000+doctors and 10,000+employees.
After TPG and Temasek stepped into Manipal Hospitals, it has been aggressively looking for consolidation opportunities. Until past year, it had already emerged as a strong contender to buy Fortis Healthcare, which was later won by Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare Bhd and Gurgaon based Medanta which did not go through.
Commenting on the deal, Dr Ranjan Pai, Chairman, Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG),said, “Columbia Asia makes a compelling strategic fit to our core values of clinical excellence, patient centricity and ethical practices, and this is the start of an exceptional journey for us and together with Columbia Asia, we are now bigger, stronger and uniquely positioned to meet the growing expectations of the communities we serve across the country.”
Columbia Asia Hospitals commenced operations in India in 2005 in Hebbal, Bengaluru and presently operates hospitals in Bangalore, Mysore, Kolkata, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Patiala and Pune. The network comprises of over 1,300 beds,1,200 clinicians and 4,000 employees.Sharing his views on the transaction, Dan Baty, Chairman, Columbia Pacific Management said,“This combination of Columbia Asia and Manipal Hospitals is very exciting because of the strong cultural alignment between the two companies –and the opportunity it provides for continued growth.” The acquisition of Columbia Asia offers a remarkable geographical and cultural fit, and provides Manipal Hospitals a larger national footprint.
