MedPlus Health Services plans to tap private equity for Rs. 300-400 crore for expansion

MedPlus Health Services, which runs a chain of pharmacies across the country, is looking to raise a fresh round of investments to the tune of Rs. 300-400 crore before it firms up its public issue plans.

The company, which raised about Rs. 200 crore in three tranches so far, runs 1,200 stores.

“We have crossed the Rs. 1,400-crore turnover mark this financial year (2014-15).

“We will think of going public once we touch the Rs. 5,000-crore mark,” Madhukar Gangadi, Chief Executive Officer of MedPlus Health Services, told BusinessLine here on Wednesday.

“We expect to cross the Rs. 5,000-crore mark in the next three-four years,” he said.

Asked about stake divestment, he said a couple of investors might seek an exit. “But they will be replaced by others. We will go for additional private equity funds for expansion,” he said.

Online sales window

The firm, which started its first store in Hyderabad in 2006, plans to have a chain of 10,000 stores in the next five years.

Apart from medicines, MedPlus has an online sales window, through which it sells medicines, cosmetics, personal care and food products.

An MBBS graduate from Kurnool Medical College, Gangadi has an MBA from Wharton Business School.

Following this, he decided to enter the largely untapped pharmaceutical business.

MedPlus cuts redundancies in the traditional supply chain system in pharmaceutical distribution and offers quality drugs at assured discounts.