Corporate structures are often a giveaway. Of strategy, culture, growth, and increasingly, of intent. Last week, shareholders of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited (AHEL), India’s largest hospital chain, approved a major corporate restructuring. AHEL will de-merge its pharmacy business, Apollo Pharmacy Limited (APL), a country-wide chain of 3,428 pharmacies, effective April 2020. Antitrust regulator Competition Commission of India already gave the go-ahead for the move in September this year.
The demerger will see three financial investors—Enam Securities, Hemendra Kothari and Jhelum Investments—put Rs 527.8 crore ($74.6 million) on the table for 74.5% of Apollo Pharmacy.