Indian private healthcare provider Max Healthcare Institute has agreed to acquire Starlit Medical Centre and, with it, the 550-bed Sahara Hospital in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

Through its Crosslay Remedies unit, Max has entered a binding share purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire 100% of Starlit, valuing the business at Rs9.4bn ($112.7m).

At the same time, Starlit has reached a business transfer agreement with Sahara India Medical Institute to buy Sahara Hospital on a slump sale basis.

With an existing operational bed capacity of 250, Sahara Hospital offers gastroenterology, neurology, surgery, cardiology, pulmonology and diagnostics services among others.

The 17-storey hospital covers 82,673m² on 27 acres of land and treats 200,000 patients a year.

It also houses a nursing college on-site, which enrols more than 100 students every year. The college provides BSc, MSc and GNM courses.

Max Healthcare said the deal will bolster the company's current neurosciences, renal sciences, orthopaedics and cardiac sciences specialities while offering advanced programmes such as oncology and organ transplants.

Max Healthcare Institute Chairman and Managing Director Abhay Soi stated: “We are excited about this acquisition, which is in line with our strategy to enter new Tier I/II cities that have a developed healthcare services ecosystem.

“Given our track record of successful postmerger integration, we expect to quickly improve the operating and financial performance on the strength of medical excellence of our clinicians and continued patronage from our patients.”

Max Healthcare Institute has a wide presence in North India, with 17 facilities across NCR Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana.

In August 2022, private equity company KKR sold its full 27% stake in Max for Rs91.85bn.

The sale came after Max entered a deal to acquire Eqova Healthcare, involving the initial acquisition of a 26% stake in the latter.