KKR buys Medicover India at $1.4 billion valuation

US alternative investment firm KKR has agreed to acquire the Indian hospital operations of Medicover, a Stockholm-listed international healthcare and diagnostics provider, at an enterprise value of €1.2 billion, or about $1.4 billion, in what VCCircle described as KKR’s biggest healthcare deal in India.

Funds managed by KKR will acquire 100% of Medicover Hospitals India from Medicover, which owns 66.1%, and minority partners holding the remaining 33.9%.

The transaction will generate gross cash proceeds of €740 million for Medicover and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to merger-control and other regulatory approvals, the companies said.

The €1.2 billion figure represents the enterprise value of the entire business rather than the amount Medicover will receive for its stake.

Medicover India operates 24 hospitals with about 4,800 beds across southern and western India, supported by more than 1,900 doctors providing care across more than 80 specialties.

The network serves millions of patients annually and gives KKR an established platform in a hospital market being reshaped by expansion and consolidation among large chains.

The business generated €220.5 million in revenue and preliminary earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of €26.1 million during the 12 months through June, according to a stock-exchange filing cited by VCCircle.

The agreed enterprise value is equivalent to about 5.4 times trailing revenue and 46 times Ebitda, a valuation that depends heavily on continued growth and improving returns from hospitals opened in recent years.

Revenue from India increased 23.1% in euro terms during the June quarter and 39.6% in local currency, with the difference largely reflecting the weakening of the rupee against the euro.

Medicover said it had continued to fill available capacity and improve profitability as its two most recently opened hospitals gained patients.

The newer facilities are not yet profitable, however.

Hospitals opened during the past two years recorded a combined EBITDAaL loss, which measures earnings after lease costs, of €3.2 million during the quarter, compared with €1.5 million a year earlier.

Medicover said most of the loss came from the 550-bed hospital opened in Hyderabad’s Financial District during the first quarter.

Medicover began evaluating a potential Indian initial public offering in December 2024 as it considered options for the business’s next stage of development.

It later concluded that the sale to KKR offered a better outcome for the company, its stakeholders and the minority partners, while allowing the parent group to concentrate capital and management attention on Poland, Germany and Romania.

The acquisition deepens KKR’s exposure to Indian healthcare after funds managed by the firm acquired control of Kerala-based Baby Memorial Hospital in 2024 and Healthcare Global Enterprises, an oncology hospital chain, in 2025.

KKR funds also back medical-device maker Healthium Medtech and healthcare technology company Infinx.

Its earlier Indian healthcare investments included Max Healthcare, which it exited in 2022, and Gland Pharma, which it exited in 2017. KKR also agreed in 2025 to sell its controlling stake in JB Pharma to Torrent Pharmaceuticals.

KKR eventually plans to combine Medicover India with Baby Memorial Hospital, VCCircle reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. Healthcare Global would continue to operate separately, although KKR and Medicover India did not confirm the proposed combination.

A merger with Baby Memorial would give KKR a wider multispecialty hospital network spanning Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other markets, strengthening its ability to compete with Apollo Hospitals, Manipal Hospitals, Fortis Healthcare and Max Healthcare as India’s biggest chains race to add beds and enter new cities.

Akshay Tanna, KKR’s head of India private equity, said the firm would support Medicover India by “investing behind its talent, technology, infrastructure and clinical capabilities, while reinforcing strong clinical governance and operational standards.”