Temasek’s India hospital bet finds a pulse

Max Healthcare Institute

13/04/2026 05:26

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions expressed are her own.

By Ujjaini  Dutta

BENGALURU, April 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Feverish demand for private medical care in India will aid Temasek as it lines up a $1.2 billion initial public offering of Manipal Hospitals, the country's largest chain with 12,000 beds. Yet at a mooted $13 billion valuation, the Singapore sovereign investor may be stretching too far to crystallise a strong exit on one of its rare controlling stakes.

Its 51% holding in Manipal is part of Temasek’s S$434 billion ($324 billion) global portfolio which boasts a growing footprint in India. The South Asian country accounts for about 8% of underlying assets, up from 5% a decade ago. Its exposure could rise higher in the coming years under Piyush Gupta; in November, Temasek appointed the former DBS Group DBSM.SI chief executive as its India chair. Manipal’s listing hands the bank its first IPO mandate in India.

The Singaporean investment firm valued the company at just under $5 billion in 2023 when it picked up a 41% stake for $2 billion. At the time, Manipal founder and Chair Ranjan Pai said the business needed "long-term patient capital". It has acquired five hospital brands since Temasek first invested in it in 2017. Meanwhile, revenue is set to grow 27% in the financial year to the end of March 2026, based on annualising results in the six months to the end of September in its IPO prospectus, with a 6% net profit margin.

At a time when global investors are cooling on Indian equities, it helps that Manipal's footprint is concentrated in the southern states where incomes are higher and patients older. Even so, the targeted headline valuation for the hospital chain would value it at 107 times its annualised first-half earnings, Breakingviews calculates, nearly double the multiple of its top three rivals Apollo Hospitals APLH.NS, Fortis Healthcare FOHE.NS and Max Healthcare MAXE.NS. Manipal is more efficient than its rivals yet its average revenue per bed is only about 5% higher than Apollo Hospitals' and 4% higher than Fortis Healthcare.

True, hospital valuations have swung wildly in India, with Apollo's nearly halving from two years ago but Temasek doesn't need such a grand debut for its bet on Manipal to stack up, and forcing one could cast a shadow over its ambitions to increase its exposure to the country.

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CONTEXT NEWS

India's Manipal Health ‌Enterprises filed for an up to $1.17 billion initial public offering on March 23. The initial public offering comprises a fresh issue to raise $852.2 million and an offer for sale by existing investors including Singapore's Temasek, U.S. investment firm TPG, Manipal Education and Novo Holdings, according ⁠to its draft prospectus.

The company is targeting a valuation of up to $13 billion, Bloomberg reported on March 24, citing people familiar with the matter.

Manipal has expanded quickly via acquisitions since 2021 https://www.reuters.com/graphics/BRV-BRV/byprnxyrnpe/chart.png

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on DUTTA/ujjaini.dutta@thomsonreuters.com))