GSK Velu in talks with PE firms, banks to buy back Metropolis Healthcare

GSK Velu, former promoter of Metropolis Healthcare, is exploring a bid for the company he once co-founded with the Shah family, seven years after selling his stake following a boardroom battle. Velu, the founder of Trivitron Healthcare, is believed to be in talks with two large private equity funds and half a dozen banking firms, to raise money to finance his bid for the diagnostics chain. Metropolis chief executive Ameera Shah and her family has initiated a formal process to sell the controlling promoter stake and is understood to have hired investment bank Barclays to initiate a formal sale. A few PE funds, including Warburg Pincus and TA Associates, are also believed to be exploring bids to buy Metropolis in a deal valued at around INR 7,800 crore. Warburg was one of the shareholders in Metropolis with a 27% stake, which it had acquired from ICICI Venture in 2010. The Shah family had bought back the stake from Warburg in 2015. Warburg may also jointly bid with Velu.