Lotus Eye Plans IPO
Coimbatore-based Lotus Eye Care Hospital Ltd (Lotus), which runs a chain of eye care hospitals in Tamil Nadu, has planned to raise funds from the primary market soon for its expansion program.Speaking Selva Sundaramurthy, chairman said that the hospital chain currently has three hospitals at Coimbatore, Salem and Tirupur and number of ancillary support centres, and in the next couple of years it plans to open 10 more hospitals in all major towns in South India."It was the first eye hospital in India to introduce multi-scan lasik
Apart from South we also plan to expand in North with primary centers and move to tier II and tier III cities where there is a shortage of specialist ophthalmic consultants," Sundaramurthy said, adding that the company is in the process of tapping the capital market."Right now we will be using our internal accruals for immediate expansion of existing facilities. However, we will be looking for fund raising programs, including private equity and public issue," he added.Lotus was established by Sundaramurthy in 1993 and so far has conducted nearly 75,000 eye surgeries.
Lotus also has many firsts to its credit. It was the first eye hospital in India to introduce multi-scan lasik in 1998 and also is the first eye hospital in South East Asia to get Epilasik in 2004.Sundaramurthy added that the hospital also ran a academic wing which trained doctors for highend ophthalmic surgeries with degrees and diploma affiliated to the Karaikudi-based Allagapa University.
