TA Associates has announced its investment in Dr Lal PathLabs through a press release published on its website.TA Associates has invested Rs. 163 crore ($35 million) to acquire nearly 16 percent stake in the India’s largest and oldest chain of pathology laboratories. TA Associates purchased it from Sequoia Capital who had invested in Lal Pathlabs since 2005.
Lexygen and Goodwin Procter LLP acted as joint legal advisors to TA Associates. Lexygen’s Founder Partner Vijay Sambamurthi led the team along with Principal Associate Saumit Mohapatra and Senior Associate Madhumita Sangma.
Speaking with Bar & Bench, Vijay Sambamurthi said, “It’s a very exciting investment for TA Associates, because it’s a secondary purchase of a part stake from Sequoia and it’s one of the leading path labs business in the country, and has been around for more than 60 years now. From our perspective it was a very interesting deal because we were actually dealing with two private equity firms, one was our client (TA Associates) and the other being Sequoia who is the seller”.
Goodwin Procter also advised its long-term client TA Associates with Hong Kong based M & A and Private Equity Partner Yash A. Rana taking the lead.
Luthra & Luthra Partner Bobby Chandhoke advised Dr. Lal PathLabs. AZB & Partners represented Sequoia Capital with a team led by Partner Gautam Saha along with Senior Associate Sachin Mehta and Associates Amrita Patnaik and Dushyant Bagga.
TA Associates is one of the largest and most experienced middle market private equity firms. The firm has invested in over 400 companies and manages more than $16 billion (Rs. 72,000 crore) in capital, with offices in Boston, London, Menlo Park and Mumbai. Ernst & Young served as financial advisors to TA Associates and JM Financial served as financial advisors to Dr Lal PathLabs and Sequoia Capital respectively.
The healthcare industry in India is at its peak, trying to cover the growing demand for healthcare facilities across the country. Recently private equity major Warburg Pincus announced an investment of Rs. 395 crore ($85 million) in Metropolis Healthcare Limited to make it one of the largest PE deals in the healthcare sector and lately SONG a Rs. 76 crore ($17 million) early stage investment fund, is investing in Gurgaon based Eye Q, a super speciality eye-care hospital.