Singapore's DBS Group Holdings Ltd. has launched its equity capital markets business in India, securing its first mandate from Manipal Health Enterprises' $1 billion IPO. According to The Economic Times, DBS has expanded into equity capital markets under its merchant banking license in India and now has a fully operational investment banking platform in the country. The bank plans to offer a comprehensive suite of investment banking services across debt and equity, using its Asian distribution network to connect Indian issuers with a broader investor base. Sanjog Kusumwal, an ECM banker from DBS's Singapore operations, will relocate to India to lead investment banking and build out the onshore ECM franchise, while also expanding fixed-income origination.
Temasek-backed Manipal Health Enterprises Limited, India's second largest hospital chain by scale, has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI, setting the stage for what is expected to be one of the marquee healthcare listings of the year. According to latest reports, the company is targeting a fundraise of approximately $1 billion with the IPO expected to be filed in January 2026. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of ₹8,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 43.23 million equity shares by promoters and existing investors. The company has indicated it may undertake a pre-IPO placement of up to ₹1,600 crore, which, if completed, would proportionally reduce the fresh issue size. The OFS includes equity shares by promoters Imperius Healthcare Investments Pte. Ltd, Manipal Education and Medical Group India, and investors TPG SG Magazine Pte Ltd, Seventy Second Investment Company LLC, Ammar Sdn Bhd, Novo Holdings Invest Asia A/S, Phoenix Bear Investments, LLC, and Amar Sdn Bhd.
The company is targeting a valuation of up to $13 billion, which could make it the most valuable publicly listed hospital operator in India, surpassing the current leader, Max Healthcare Institute, which holds a market capitalization of about $12 billion. According to sources, the total issue size could be between ₹10,500 crore and ₹11,000 crore. The valuation targets highlight the increasing investor appetite for Indian healthcare, a sector that has seen significant private and foreign investment from global firms like Blackstone, Novo Nordisk, and KKR. The last major hospital IPO in India was that of Dr Agarwal's Health Care, which raised $150 million, making Manipal's planned offering significantly larger and more impactful for the market.
The company has indicated it may undertake a pre-IPO placement of up to ₹1,600 crore, which, if completed, would proportionally reduce the fresh issue size. As reported by CNBC TV18, the proceeds from the fresh issue will be primarily deployed towards repayment of outstanding borrowings of its material subsidiary, Manipal Hospitals Private Limited (₹5,378 crore), acquisition of a minority stake in step-down subsidiary Sahyadri Hospitals Private Limited (₹574 crore), and general corporate purposes. The company plans to utilize ₹5,378 crore from the fresh issue proceeds specifically for debt repayment of its subsidiary. A significant portion of the proceeds, estimated at around ₹8,000 crore, will be allocated towards the repayment of outstanding borrowings, with the remaining funds used to finance inorganic growth opportunities, including funding the recent acquisition of Sahyadri Hospitals, and for general corporate expansion.
Manipal Health operates a pan-India network of 49 hospitals with over 10,600 operational beds across 14 states and union territories as of September 30, 2025. According to the company's filing, by November 2025, the addition of its 49th hospital in Bengaluru pushed its licensed bed capacity to 12,631. The group is the largest pan-India multispecialty hospital network by bed capacity and ranks second among private hospital chains by number of hospitals, according to CRISIL. The company served 3.94 million patients in the six months ended September 30, 2025, and had over 11,000 doctors available as of September 2025. The company's multispecialty hospitals cover cardiology, oncology, neurosurgery, gastrointestinal science, orthopedics, liver transplantation surgery and kidney transplant among other specialties.
Financially, revenue from operations surged to ₹8,242 crore in FY25, up sharply from ₹4,840 crore in FY23, nearly a 70 per cent jump over two years. As reported by CNBC TV18, net profit more than doubled over the same period, rising from ₹414 crore in FY23 to ₹1,081.6 crore in FY25. For the six months ended September 30, 2025, the company reported revenue of ₹4,713 crore and a net profit of ₹572 crore. The company served 7.19 million patients across its network in FY25 and had over 11,000 doctors available as of September 2025. Karnataka alone accounted for nearly 50% of revenue from operations in the first half of FY26, with 18 hospitals and 6,040 licensed beds in the state. The success of this IPO will not only solidify Manipal's position as a market leader but also reinforce the investment appeal of India's healthcare industry.
The company has established itself as one of India's most active healthcare consolidators, with its most notable recent move being the acquisition of Sahyadri Hospitals, Maharashtra's largest hospital chain, which it bought for $700 million. This expansion was supported by a $100 million financing facility from KKR & Co. in June 2025, a deal that temporarily paused IPO preparations to allow the company to finalize the acquisition. The IPO is set to create a new benchmark for the Indian healthcare sector, with the public listing potentially happening in mid-2026 subject to regulatory approvals and market conditions. The company has appointed Kotak Mahindra Capital, Axis Capital, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, J.P. Morgan, UBS, and DBS Bank as the book-running lead managers, with KFin Technologies serving as the registrar of the offer. The OFS component will see several existing investors divesting a part of their stake, including TPG, Temasek, Ammar Sdn. Bhd., Novo Holdings Invest Asia, Phoenix Bear Investments LLC, and Manipal Education and Medical Group India Pvt. Ltd.