The promoter of MedPlus Health Services Pvt. Ltd, has raised $117.67 million in debt financing from Goldman Sachs to buyout current private equity investors.
Hyderabad-based MedPlus Health Services Pvt. Ltd is the second largest pharmacy retail chain in India after Apollo. It was founded by Madhukar Gangadi in the year 2006. The company’s existing private equity investors were US-based Mount Kellett Capital Management LP, TVS Capital Funds Ltd, and Ajay Piramal’s India Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd. These t.hree firms together held around 69% of the firm whereas the rest belonged to the CEO Madhukar Gangadi.
Mount Kellett Capital Management LP held around 49% stake in the company via one of its subsidiaries MKCP Direct Investments (Mauritius) IV Ltd. TVS Capital’s TVS Shriram Growth Fund I accounted for 10.59% stake Piramal-led India Venture Trust Fund-I held 9.09%.
All the Private Equity firms had been looking to take an exit from the company since a few months. Currently, Madhukar Gangadi owns around 90% of the company. In the next 12-18 months, MedPlus is planning to go public.
MedPlus was launched by Gangadi when he realised that around 30% of the fake medicines were from India. He wanted to introduce a trustworthy platform for Indian customers, from where they can buy medicines. Today, there are over 1400 MedPlus pharmacies all over the country. It employs over 10,000 people and serves more than 2,50,000 consumers daily. The company also manages several other firms like the optical store, MedPlusLens, diagnostics chain MedPlus Pathlabs, RiteCure, a distributor of medical and surgical supplies to hospitals and online pharmacy store MedPlusMart.com which was started in 2015. With MedPlus, consumers can buy medicines, Over-The-Counter products, Fast-moving consumer goods like foods, beverages, toiletries, etc as well as nutrition products. You can also store data related to your health records and view your prescription history whenever you want. It also offers reward points in the form of cashback.
Till date, MedPlus has raised around $210 million. In August 2017, General Atlantic and True North were in talks with MedPlus to inject $200 million into the company.
In October this year, Netmeds, an online pharmacy firm raised $14 million in a funding round led by Tanncam, a Cambodian investment holding company, which was joined by Sistema Asia Fund.