Metropolis Healthcare to acquire Hitech Diagnostic; share rises

Metropolis Healthcare, one of the leading diagnostic companies in India, announced over the weekend that it will acquire 100 per cent equity of Dr Ganesan’s Hitech Diagnostic Centre Pvt Ltd with a cash consideration of Rs 511 crore. 

The acquisition deal is an arrangement of cash and stock deal. The cash consideration will be funded through internal accruals and debt of up to Rs 300 crore. It will also issue up to 4,95,000 equity on a preferential basis. 

With this acquisition, Metropolis will be able to expand its B2C business in focus cities of Chennai and Bengaluru, benefitting through optimisation of operational costs in the areas of procurement, supply chain, administration and support resource, laboratory network, and back-office infrastructure along with penetration in different customer segments across key markets of South India. 

Metropolis Healthcare will be able to get access to 31 laboratories including three National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABLs) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) accredited laboratories as well as 68 collection centres of Hitech. 

On Monday, at 10.17 am, the share of Metropolis Healthcare Ltd was trading 1.16 per cent higher at Rs 2,189 on BSE. The share recorded a 52-week high of Rs 2,321 and a 52-week low of Rs 993 on BSE.