Apollo Hospitals told the exchanges on Friday that its MD, Suneeta Reddy, has sold a 1.3% stake via a block deal to pare down the outstanding debt of the promoter group. According to Apollo Hospitals, Reddy sold 18,97,239 shares at a price of ₹7850 per share, which is a 1% discount over its closing price on Thursday.

That corresponded to a selling price of ₹1,489.33 crore. Post the sale, the stake of the promoter group in Apollo Hospitals is about 28% from the previous 29.3%, and pledged holdings reduced from 13.1% to about 2%. Apollo Hospitals also said that the block deal transaction fulfils a commitment made to investors to reduce pledged holdings. The promoter group does not plan any further reduction in stake in the foreseeable future.

In July, Apollo Hospitals decided to demerge its omni-channel pharma and digital health businesses into a new entity. Apollo Hospitals also proposed a strategic reorganisation, enabling direct listing of its pharmacy and digital health businesses on the domestic bourses within 18 to 21 months, it said in an exchange filing.

The omni-channel pharmacy and digital health operations, including its telehealth vertical and investment in Apollo HealthCo Ltd (AHL), will be demerged into a new entity—NewCo. Under the scheme of arrangement, Apollo Hospitals shareholders will receive 195.2 shares of the new entity for every 100 shares they own.

In May, Apollo Hospitals said it plans to add over 4,300 beds in the next five years with an investment of over ₹8,000 crore. Currently, Apollo has over 10,000 beds across 73 hospitals.

“Our more than ₹8,000 crore investment over the next five years will add over 4,300 beds, with the first phase of 2,000 beds already in progress—bringing advanced care closer to communities across India”, said Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals.

Apollo Hospitals will commission new hospitals in Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi-NCR this year. Several more are in varying stages of development, and these state-of-the-art facilities will be equipped with cutting-edge medical technology, reinforcing Apollo Hospitals’ commitment to delivering world-class care at scale, said Dr Prathap Reddy, while announcing FY25 results.