Sometimes quiet, unglamorous deals reveal the biggest trends. That’s Bengaluru-based Cloudnine Hospitals right now. Permira is reportedly pulling ahead of TPG to acquire a $150-200 million stake, buying out early investor True North’s decade-old holding.
Interestingly, this deal is a scaled-down version of Cloudnine Hospitals’s original plan, a much larger $250-300 million raise meant to fund a West Asia acquisition that never materialised. If it goes through, this will be one of Permira’s earliest India bets after its SILA investment earlier this year.
Cloudnine itself has been busy. It recently acquired Apollo Hospitals’s maternity and fertility business for $160 million, expanding its footprint to 40 centres across 13 cities. Revenue grew to ₹1,485.6 crore in FY25, though loss widened too, a familiar story for scaling healthcare chains.
India’s single-speciality healthcare segment is projected to nearly triple to $12.3 billion by 2030, as hospitals shift from being generalists to focused specialists. Rising insurance penetration and an aging population are only accelerating that shift.
With Temasek, TPG NewQuest and Apollo already holding stakes, and investor appetite clearly strong, can Cloudnine become the blueprint for how specialty healthcare scales in India? Read the full story by Sneha Shah and Priyamvada C.
MARKET WATCH
Indian shares fell on Monday as a lack of progress towards ending the Iran war kept crude oil prices elevated, while an end of quarterly earnings reporting season meant limited domestic triggers for investors.
The Nifty 50 fell 0.32% to 24,287.65 and the BSE Sensex lost 0.36% to 77,728.16. They were down 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively, at 3:15 pm, ahead of the new closing auction session.
This marks one of the first instances when the benchmark indexes have closed at lower levels after the closing auction session, as compared to 3:15 pm when the regular trading ends.
🔗 Key factors that drove India’s stock market today
BEST OF MINT
In a first, Bihar joins Centre’s direct pulse procurement network
Ashok Leyland’s demand is on the right track, but margins lag
India’s steel pipe makers tap West Asia as all eyes on energy transport
Coal India weighs more iron ore bids as it plans a pelletisation plant
In tomorrow’s print edition:
Explainer: Indian consumers are spending again. Can it last?
Plain Facts: How UPI made a dent in the financial universe
Markets: Closing auction session is here to stay, says SEBI chief
M2M: LG Electronics India: turnaround or just a low-base bounce?
SNEAK A PEEK
Long Story, a much-loved Mint feature, is published every weekday. Before the next piece hits the stands, here’s your exclusive glimpse into what’s brewing on our desk. Catch the story in the morning edition.
During the recent students’ protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, Gen Z youth and their parents spoke of a growing sense of helplessness—of sky-high cost of education and the difficulty in finding a decent job, going beyond the feelings of betrayal evoked by the NEET paper leak. Read more.
MINT MONEY
Income-plus-arbitrage funds see outflows
Despite growing to 22 schemes in under two years, income-plus-arbitrage funds are seeing outflows this year after strong 2025 inflows, as returns lag behind simpler debt options. Designed to offer equity-like taxation with debt-like stability, these funds mix arbitrage strategies with varied debt investments, making them hard to compare and, according to experts, complex for average investors to fully understand.
Advisers say they suit wealthy, high-tax-bracket investors with a two- to three-year horizon, but broader adoption may require a genuine falling-rate cycle for these funds to prove their worth. Read more.