IHH Healthcare Halts Open Offer For Fortis After Supreme Court Ruling
Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Bhd today said that its open offer to buy an additional 26 per cent stake in Fortis Healthcare Ltd will not proceed as per the timeline following a court ruling.
Cash-strapped Fortis accepted IHH'S investment offer in July after an extended bidding war for control of the company which operates about 30 private hospitals in India.
Under the deal, IHH will pay Fortis 40 billion rupees for 31 per cent stake, and then bid for another 26 per cent as per Indian regulations, offering up to 33 billion rupees.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered status quo be maintained with regard to sale of the controlling stake in Fortis, after Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd filed a contempt plea against Fortis founders Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, according to a CNBC TV18 report.
Daiichi argued that Singh brothers created encumbrances on 1.2 million shares of Fortis in violation of court orders, the report added. The court has issued notices to the Singh brothers.
Meanwhile, Fortis said on Saturday it was not a party to the judicial proceedings and that the proceedings were solely related to the ex-promoters, who are no longer a part of the company.
IHH said the order does not impact the share subscription with Fortis which was completed on Nov. 13. Shares of Fortis fell as much as 3.7 per cent to 136.20 rupees in heavy trading, with more than 3.1 mln shares changing hands by 0806 GMT, compared with their 30-day average of 2.6 mln shares.
