Online Diagnostics business news: Investinindia.com : Cx Partners invests Rs 188 Crore in medical diagnostics firm Thyrocare Technologies Ltd

Cx Partners reported it had invested around Rs 188 crore in Thyrocare Technologies for the acquisition of a 30 per cent stake. Cx Partners, the private equity firm, will acquire the stake in the medical diagnostics firm, valuing Thyrocare Technologies Ltd at Rs 627 Crore. According to the firm, the funds to be accrued from the sale will go into expansion into radiology diagnostics like CT Scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs).

The transaction is inclusive of a performance-based component, in which Dr. Velumani may receive some additional shares in case the company exceeds the performance requirements. As part of the deal, Ajay Relan, founder of Cx Partners and Vivek Chhachhi, partner at Cx will become board members of Thyrocare.

Thyrocare is a thyroid testing laboratory and also caters to critical diagnostics services related to growth metabolism, cancer, infectious diseases and infertility. Thyrocare follows a centralized laboratory (single location) testing model with a nationwide franchise network for fast-track sample collection and result delivery.

Thyrocare's network processes 50,000 investigations in a day and it has a capacity to process 5, 00,000 investigations per day in its current facilities in Mumbai. It earned Rs 60 crore revenue in 2008-09. It has centralized operations and the same standards of quality control and accuracy in reporting is maintained. It uses Bar-coding and bidirectional interfacing system.

It is planning to open up centers in five more cities including Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Earlier this year, there were news of private equity firm like Avendus Private Equity Investment Advisors Ltd. and Citigroup Venture Capital International (CVCI) and US based Quest Diagnostics Inc. would buy a major or controlling stake in Thyrocare Technologies Ltd, but there was no development on this deal.

India has Rs. 15000 crore diagnostics services market. Others diagnostic centers functioning are Metropolis, Religare SRL Diagnostics, Dr Lal's Pathology, Piramal Diagnostics (formerly Wellspring) and Anand Labs. TA Associates invested $35 million in Dr Lal Pathlab this year.

CX partners is the PE firm promoted by former Citigroup Venture Capital International head Ajay Relan in 2009. Key investors in CX Partners include Morgan Creek Capital, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Asia Alternatives and Adams Street. In July this year, Cx Partners acquired 20% stake in NTL Electronics India Ltd. for Rs 120 Cr.

The firm's main office and testing venue is in Bristol and has an office and testing venue in Islington, central London, which is convenient for its London clients and partners.

Online link ; http://bit.ly/vDjPsD