NEW DELHI: The healthcare sector continued to be a hub of private equity deal activity in 2023, with India registering 22 deals valued at $4.6 billion. This is a tad lower than $4.7 billion achieved in 2022.
The country’s growing middle class is catalysing a significant surge in healthcare expenditure, propelled by the upswing in disposable incomes and a proliferation of insurtech platforms, alongside the presence of private payers, says Bain & Company’s annual Global Healthcare Private Equity and M&A report.
India has seen a longterm rise in biopharma-related activity (for example, in generics and active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing), albeit with a slowdown year over year, while also witnessing growth in domestic demand driven by an expanding middle class and government insurance programmes. These macroeconomic dynamics, coupled with a number of successful exits by early investors in India — such as TPG’s sale of a controlling stake in Care Hospitals to Blackstone — have propelled private equity sponsors to regard India as a place to deploy healthcare capital at scale, it adds.
Globally too, the sector held its own in a tepid market with deals totalling around $60 billion, despite higher global interest rates, inflationary pressures, and broader geopolitical uncertainty. Biopharma captured the bulk of dealmaking momentum, contributing 48% of global deal value, including six deals of over $2 billion.
In 2024, investors will continue to bet on the transformative nature of generative AI, new modalities and inno vative therapies such as glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists (GLP-1s), and India as a place to deploy healthcare capital at scale, the report says.
Investors seeking to manage geopolitical risk began to broaden their horizons, with India representing the largest share of announced deal value and continuing to see a long-term rise in biopharmarelated activity. The domestic pharmaceutical sector, buoyed by government policies and skilled talent, holds a top three global position in small molecule and generic manufacturing, satisfying 50% of global vaccine needs.
Private equity investors, including Advent International, Carlyle, and PAG, capitalised on this growth, expanding in pharma services like CDMOs and APIs. India has historically served as the back-end for many USand Europe-focused healthcare data and analytics companies. Re cent years, however, witnessed a surge in direct-to-consumer digital health companies especially in fitness, wellness, telemedicine, and insurtech.
Investments in Asia-Pacific are evolving, and India’s favourable macro tailwinds have made it a leading destination for capital. India has traditionally seen investments in biopharma and providers, and it is still too soon to know whether green shoots in other areas can achieve comparable prominence, the report said.
The country’s growing middle class is catalysing a significant surge in healthcare expenditure, propelled by the upswing in disposable incomes and a proliferation of insurtech platforms, alongside the presence of private payers, says Bain & Company’s annual Global Healthcare Private Equity and M&A report.
India has seen a longterm rise in biopharma-related activity (for example, in generics and active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing), albeit with a slowdown year over year, while also witnessing growth in domestic demand driven by an expanding middle class and government insurance programmes. These macroeconomic dynamics, coupled with a number of successful exits by early investors in India — such as TPG’s sale of a controlling stake in Care Hospitals to Blackstone — have propelled private equity sponsors to regard India as a place to deploy healthcare capital at scale, it adds.
Globally too, the sector held its own in a tepid market with deals totalling around $60 billion, despite higher global interest rates, inflationary pressures, and broader geopolitical uncertainty. Biopharma captured the bulk of dealmaking momentum, contributing 48% of global deal value, including six deals of over $2 billion.
In 2024, investors will continue to bet on the transformative nature of generative AI, new modalities and inno vative therapies such as glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists (GLP-1s), and India as a place to deploy healthcare capital at scale, the report says.
Investors seeking to manage geopolitical risk began to broaden their horizons, with India representing the largest share of announced deal value and continuing to see a long-term rise in biopharmarelated activity. The domestic pharmaceutical sector, buoyed by government policies and skilled talent, holds a top three global position in small molecule and generic manufacturing, satisfying 50% of global vaccine needs.
Private equity investors, including Advent International, Carlyle, and PAG, capitalised on this growth, expanding in pharma services like CDMOs and APIs. India has historically served as the back-end for many USand Europe-focused healthcare data and analytics companies. Re cent years, however, witnessed a surge in direct-to-consumer digital health companies especially in fitness, wellness, telemedicine, and insurtech.
Investments in Asia-Pacific are evolving, and India’s favourable macro tailwinds have made it a leading destination for capital. India has traditionally seen investments in biopharma and providers, and it is still too soon to know whether green shoots in other areas can achieve comparable prominence, the report said.