IFC to invest Rs 77 crore in Ivy Health

To expand its operations further, Punjab-based hospital chain Ivy Health and Life Sciences is looking to raise Rs 77 crore from World Bank arm International Finance Corporation (IFC) for its second round of funding.

The capital will enable Ivy to expand its capacity by 550 beds through new hospitals while even reducing its debt. It will also be utilised to build two new hospitals in Bhatinda and Jalandhar.

The investment is a part of a Rs 165 crore capital expansion plan by Ivy and the remaining amount is expected to be raised from other investors and through debt. Ivy has been promoted by husband-wife duo of Gurtej Singh and Dr Kanwaldeep Kaur, a radiologist who is also the medical director of the hospital.

According to IFC website, Ivy is a leading regional player in the Indian private hospital sector, with 670 operating beds and a bed capacity of over 770 beds in the state of Punjab as of April 2015. It is one of the largest private sector chains in Punjab. The company’s flagship hospital is in Mohali and has 200 operational beds. It also operates four 100-200 bed multi-specialty hospitals in Nawanshahr, Khanna, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar. Ivy is in the process of building two hospitals in Bhatinda and Jalandhar. Ivy’s hospitals provided treatment to over 150,000 people in the last financial year. In some of the cities that it operates in, it is the only tertiary care center.

The proposed project would increase the number of operational beds by 550 beds only through organic expansion in areas underpenetrated for healthcare and strengthen the company’s balance sheet by debt reduction.