Manipal Health IPO: How an acquisition spree will consume most of its Rs 8,000 crore fresh issue

Manipal Health Enterprises will use over three-fourths of its Rs 8,000 crore fresh IPO proceeds to repay acquisition-related debt and fund an additional stake purchase in Sahyadri Hospitals. The issue reflects a balance-sheet reset after an aggres...

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Manipal Health Enterprises will use nearly 77% of its Rs 8,000 crore fresh issue to settle the bill for its acquisition spree, turning one of India’s biggest healthcare IPOs into a balance-sheet repair exercise after debt more than doubled in a year.

The hospital operator plans to deploy Rs 5,552.76 crore to repay or prepay borrowings and accrued interest at subsidiary Manipal Hospitals Private Limited, according to the red herring prospectus. Another Rs 574 crore will finance the acquisition of an additional minority stake in Sahyadri Hospitals. Together, the two acquisition-linked commitments will consume Rs 6,126.76 crore of the fresh issue.

The remaining proceeds, after issue expenses, will be available for general corporate purposes. That allocation cannot exceed 25% of the gross proceeds.


The IPO has been priced at Rs 560-Rs590 per share. Alongside the Rs 8,000 crore fresh issue, existing shareholders will sell as many as 21.61 million shares. The total offering would therefore raise Rs 9,275 crore.

Also Read | Manipal Health Enterprises sets price band for Rs 9,275 crore IPO, opens July 29


Why Manipal is launching IPO

The fresh capital is effectively refinancing a debt-funded expansion. Manipal Hospitals issued 531,000 listed non-convertible debentures with a face value of Rs 100,000 each in September 2025, raising Rs 5,310 crore to finance the first two tranches of the Sahyadri acquisition.

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The bonds carry a fixed coupon of 9.03% and have a two-year tenure. Their terms require mandatory prepayment if Manipal Health’s shares are listed on a recognised Indian stock exchange. The company proposes to use the IPO proceeds to redeem the outstanding principal, pay accrued interest and meet prepayment or early-redemption penalties during FY27. Any remaining amount required for the redemption will come from internal accruals.

The Rs 5,552.76 crore earmarked for this purpose represents 47.47% of Manipal’s consolidated borrowings as of May 31, when outstanding debt stood at Rs 11,185.02 crore. The company said repayment would reduce interest outflow and allow more internal cash to be deployed toward growth and expansion.

Manipal expects the bonds to carry a total interest cost of Rs 958.99 crore over their full tenure. It had incurred Rs 264.05 crore of interest on them between their issuance in September 2025 and March 2026.

The underlying Sahyadri transaction gave Manipal 10 hospitals and 1,606 licensed beds across Pune, Nashik, Ahilyanagar and Karad in Maharashtra. Manipal Hospitals acquired a 78.71% stake in Sahyadri for Rs 4,596.55 crore in October 2025, followed by another 9.84% for Rs 574.44 crore in December.

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The IPO will finance a third tranche comprising another 9.84% stake for ₹574 crore. That means the fresh issue is not merely retiring acquisition debt; part of it will complete another leg of the same transaction.

The expansion has already transformed Manipal’s balance sheet. Consolidated borrowings increased to Rs 10,553.43 crore as of March 2026 from Rs 4,766.83 crore a year earlier. Net debt, including lease liabilities, climbed to 3.74 times adjusted Ebitda from 2 times.

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The impact was also visible in earnings. Manipal’s revenue from operations jumped 25.4% to Rs 10,335.75 crore in FY26, but profit declined 15.3% to ₹916.52 crore. Finance costs surged 69% to Rs 864.29 crore, while depreciation and amortisation expenses increased to Rs 679.55 crore from Rs 506.84 crore.

Sahyadri contributed Rs 597.71 crore to revenue between its acquisition on October 3 and the end of March, but reported a loss of Rs 40.74 crore during that period. It accounted for 5.78% of Manipal’s FY26 revenue and reduced consolidated profit by 4.45%.

The full-year pro forma numbers show a sharper impact. Had the acquisition been effective for the entire year, Manipal’s FY26 revenue would have been Rs 10,935.62 crore, compared with reported revenue of Rs 10,335.75 crore. Pro forma profit, however, would have been Rs 684.90 crore, which is Rs 231.62 crore below the reported figure.

Manipal’s expansion has been rapid. It acquired AMRI in September 2023, Medica Synergie in July 2024 and Sahyadri in October 2025. Its network expanded from 33 hospitals and 9,520 licensed beds in March 2024 to 49 hospitals and 13,037 licensed beds two years later.

The company does not intend to abandon that strategy after listing. It plans to continue evaluating acquisitions in existing and new markets and entered into a non-binding term sheet for another hospital in Karnataka in June 2026. It also intends to add about 483 beds through brownfield projects and 1,943 beds through greenfield developments by 2030.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
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