By Vibhuti Sharma and Rishika Sadam
BENGALURU, March 24 (Reuters) – India’s Manipal Health Enterprises filed for an up to $1.17 billion initial public offering on Tuesday, betting on rising demand for speciality care even as the domestic equities market faces volatility amid fragile global sentiment.
The initial public offering comprises a fresh issue to raise $852.2 million and an offer for sale of about 43.2 million shares by existing investors such as Singapore’s Temasek, U.S. investment firm TPG, Manipal Education and Novo Holdings, according to its draft prospectus.
Existing investors plan to sell up to 30 billion rupees ($319.58 million) worth of shares, according to two sources familiar with the matter. They did not want to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Demand for specialised healthcare has surged in the world’s most populous country and is a key driver of growth, analysts say, a trend that is increasingly attracting private and foreign investment from firms such as Blackstone, Novo Nordisk and KKR.
India remains an undersupplied healthcare market, with strong tailwinds from rising insurance penetration, industry consolidation favouring larger players and higher per capita incomes driving demand for quality care, said Sanjay Singh, head of investment banking at InCred Capital, adding the IPO is likely to see strong interest from both institutional and retail investors.
Manipal’s listed rival, Apollo Hospitals said revenue from complex care such as cardiology, oncology, and neurology rose 22.6% in the December 2025 quarter, highlighting growing demand for advanced medical care.
Manipal’s IPO plans come amid a sharp slump in India’s equities market, with global risk-off sentiment, tightening liquidity and sustained foreign outflows weighing.
Foreign investors have withdrawn more than $11.65 billion from Indian stocks so far in 2026, including more than $10.17 billion in March alone, according to depository data.
MANIPAL’S LAY OF THE LAND
As of September 30, Manipal had about 12,367 operational beds, while Apollo, valued at roughly $10.88 billion, has nearly 10,000 and targets 13,000 beds by fiscal 2030.
For the six months to September 2025, Manipal Health posted a consolidated net profit of 5.61 billion rupees and revenue of 47.13 billion rupees.
The company plans to use IPO proceeds to repay debt and to fund its acquisition of Sahyadri Hospitals, which it bought for $700 million.
($1 = 93.8725 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru, writing by Chandini Monnappa; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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