PharmEasy parent API Holdings gets Sebi nod for Rs6250 crore IPO

21 Feb 2022 , 07:35 PM

API Holdings, India’s Largest Digital Healthcare Company, has received approval from markets regulator Sebi to raise Rs6,250 crore through an initial public offering (IPO).

The Mumbai-headquartered company is an integrated, end-to-end business that aims to provide solutions for healthcare needs of consumers providing digital tools and information on illness and wellness, offering teleconsultation, offering diagnostics and radiology tests, and delivering treatment protocols including products and devices.

The issue will only be a primary share sale of shares of Rs6,250 crore. The company will use Rs1,929 crore from the IPO proceeds to repay or prepay borrowings and Rs1,259 crore to fund organic growth initiatives, besides allocating Rs1,500 crore on inorganic growth opportunities through acquisitions and other strategic initiatives.

Additionally, the company, in consultation with the bankers to the issue may consider a private placement aggregating up to Rs1,250 crore. If such placement is completed, the fresh issue size will be reduced.

The five founders of API Holdings, Siddharth, Hardik, Harsh, Dharmil and Dhaval are childhood friends, commonly referred to as the Ghatkopar Gang, coming from the suburb of Ghatkopar in Mumbai. The journey of the API Holdings founders that started from DialHealth in 2012, a digital and phone order platform that allowed access to teleconsult, diagnostic lab pickups and medical product delivery has come a long way to now become India’s largest digital healthcare platform.

According to a RedSeer Report, stated in its DRHP, API Holdings Ltd is India’s largest digital healthcare platform based on gross merchant value (GMV) of products and services sold for the year ended March 31, 2021.

API Holdings had most recently acquired 66.1 per cent in Thyrocare Technologies from its founder A Velumani for Rs4,546 crore (at Rs1,300 per share) through Docon Technologies which is a 100 per cent subsidiary of API and in September 2021, they acquired a majority of Bengaluru based tech focussed, healthcare supply chain startup Akna Medical Pvt Ltd (Aknamed) that is backed by Lightrock for an undisclosed sum.

As of 30 June 2021, API Holdings provided access to more than 50,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) across 18,587 pin codes in 2,601 cities and towns across the country. Its revenues and busines are spread across the length and breadth of India, urban and rural and provides its services to 3,261 wholesalers, 87,194 pharmacies, and 4,617 prescribing doctors and clinics and 926 hospitals, with 25 million registered users.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited, Morgan Stanley India Company Private Limited, BofA Securities India Limited, Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited, JM Financial Limited are the book running lead managers to the issue.