Consolidates presence in preventive diagnostics for mother and baby healthcare LifeCell International India's largest stem cell bank and premier mother and baby healthcare services provider on August 2 announced that it is acquiring the entire stake of Fetomed Laboratories for an undisclosed sum.

With this investment LifeCell's holding in its subsidiary will go up from initial 80% to 100%. This acquisition has been funded entirely by internal accruals. Consequent to this, Fetomed will undergo a merger with LifeCell, which is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Fetomed Laboratories, founded in 2013 by Dr. Sreedhar Mayavan and Ashiya Fathima, is a leading provider of clinical diagnostics services, offering full spectrum of prenatal tests from routine screening to advanced genetic tests for expectant mothers to check for medical conditions and abnormalities in a foetus or embryo in early stages of pregnancy.

Commenting on this acquisition Mr Mayur Abhaya, Managing Director of LifeCell said, "Acquiring the complete ownership stake in Fetomed reaffirms LifeCell's commitment to further building on mother and baby diagnostic services that strongly complements our stem cell banking business. India has the largest number of babies born with chromosomal disorders in the world, making it extremely critical to detect any abnormalities at an early stage. Integration of operations supports LifeCell's plans for growth with a vision to become largest mother and baby preventive healthcare organisation".

LifeCell forayed into the prenatal diagnostics market in 2016 by acquiring a controlling stake in Fetomed and had launched the prenatal screening test across its entire pan-India network of hospitals and birthing centers and had witnessed rapid growth with testing volumes growing over 100% CAGR over the last 2 years. This triggered to be another major consideration to further consolidate the business through this acquisition.

With this merger Dr Sreedhar, Founder and Director of Fetomed Laboratories would be inducted into the Corporate Board of LifeCell. He said, "I'm pleased to be a part of a new era of diagnostic services at LifeCell. Our customers will benefit from development of newer and superior technologies, innovations and improved services for prenatal and postnatal diagnostics". LifeCell is also working towards consolidation of its business divisions for a better nexus between them and the formal brand and divisional architecture is expected to be announced soon.