Metropolis lab technicians work at their Landmark Plaza laboratory in Nairobi on August 12, 2013. DIANA NGILA
By DOREEN WAINAINAH and DAVID HERBLING
Metropolis Healthcare, a Mumbai-based chain of
medical laboratories, is set to spend Sh250 million on acquisition of
five additional labs following the firm’s recent entry into the Kenyan
market.
Chief executive Ameera Shah told the Business Daily in an interview that the Indian firm is also eyeing entry into neighbouring countries as part of a wider expansion plan in East Africa.
Metropolis has acquired two laboratories in Nairobi’s Parklands and Upper Hill areas with a capacity to handle 4,500 different medical tests including oncology, genetics and molecular biology. Kenya is the firm’s second base in Africa, having opened shop in South Africa in 2008.
“The shift from infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes necessitates early detection through accurate diagnostics,” said Mr Shah, adding that the firm is targeting the large number of Kenyans seeking specialised tests and treatment abroad, and others sending samples to India and South Africa.
The Indian firm acquired two Star Biotech Labs at Sh40 million. It plans to open other clinical laboratories in Mombasa, Eldoret, Kakamega and Kisumu and set up collection points in every county.
Metropolis was founded in 1981 in Mumbai and
currently runs 105 diagnostic and 700 collection centres across India,
UAE, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Bangladesh.
Metropolis, backed by New York-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus, said it would establish a reference lab in Nairobi to act as a regional hub for other markets such as Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Somalia.
Warburg Pincus invested Sh7.3 billion ($85 million) in the health provider in 2010 for an undisclosed stake.
The entry of Metropolis comes at a time when
Kenya’s healthcare sector is attracting foreign investors. German PE
fund African Development Corporation (ADC) seeks to invest a further $3
million (Sh258 million) in Resolution Insurance, equivalent of a 23.4
per cent stake based on the company’s December valuation of about Sh1.1
billion.
ADC currently owns 38.74 per cent of the medical insurance provider and the injection may dilute the stakes of the firm’s founders — including CEO Peter Nduati — if they cede their ownership or the firm creates new shares to accommodate ADC.
AAR Healthcare in May sold a 20 per cent stake to Stockholm-based PE firm Swedfund for Sh382 million to raise funds and build of hospitals in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
World Bank’s private sector lending arm, IFC, is also in talks with AAR to invest Sh382 million in the firm which is also a medical underwriter.
Alexander Forbes, a financial and risk-broking firm, in May sold its Kenyan healthcare business to a consortium of investors, including Geoffrey Nzau, Kenya’s first actuary and a former senior executive at the company
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