Housing Development Finance Corporation [Get Quote] may join hands with Apollo Hospitals [Get Quote] to set up two-three super-specialty hospitals in Mumbai.

The Pratap Reddy-promoted Apollo is planning to invest about Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) in each project.

A senior executive of Apollo Hospitals said a few financial institutions, including HDFC [Get Quote], have expressed interest to partner the group in setting up the hospitals in Mumbai.

Industry sources said HDFC is in the final stages of negotiations with the Apollo group to collaborate for the projects.

"Though the partnership has not yet been finalised, it is likely that HDFC Realty may build and own the infrastructure for the hospitals," they added.

Sources in Apollo group said locations for the 400-bed hospitals are being finalised. A possible location might be in Navi Mumbai. Apollo Hospitals is present in most metropolitan cities in India including New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bangalore with super-specialty hospitals. It, however, has no presence in Mumbai.

The high real estate cost was one of the reasons for the delay in Apollo Hospitals' entry in Mumbai. "Since finance is no more a constrain for the group now, we want to set up the Apollo brand here," Prathap C Reddy, chairman of Apollo Hospitals, said.

Reddy was speaking on the occasion of launching its first Apollo Clinic, a chain of day-to-day healthcare clinic, in Mumbai. Apollo Clinic has been initiated by Apollo Health and Lifestyle, a subsidiary of Apollo Hospitals.

The group, currently the largest private hospital group in Asia, has over 28 hospitals in major cities across India and abroad with 6,400 beds.

As part of the Asia expansion, the group set up its first overseas hospital in Dubai in 1999 followed by Colombo in 2000. It is now planning to set up specialty hospitals in Africa, Bangladesh, Oman and Saudi Arabia.