After Khazanah today claimed majority approval of Singapore hospital chain Parkway's shareholders for its partial offer, Fortis is understood to be planning to move the regulator SIC tomorrow against the Malaysian fund and charged it with misleading shareholders.
According to sources close to advisors of Fortis, the company will be approaching the Singapore Securities Industry Council (SIC) tomorrow through against Khazanah arm Integrated Healthcare Holdings, which has offered a partial offer to up its shareholding to 51.5 per cent in Parkway.
"They (Khazanah) have not specified whether the votes they claimed to have received in the voting was done before or after Fortis' counter offer,"a source close to the development said tonight. Fortis officials, however, could not be contacted for comments.
Another source said, Khazanah is trying to increase its offer price as its partial offer is turning out to be unattractive to shareholders. "Since theirs is only a partial offer, a shareholder will not be able to fully benefit from it as only a portion of shares will be accepted," source said.
"Unless they offer 5 Singapore dollar (SGD) per share, it will remain unattractive," another source claimed.
Earlier in the day, Khazanah claimed that it received the approval of the majority of eligible shareholders of Parkway who have so far voted on its partial offer. The development could prove to be a blow to Fortis, which is trying to fully acquire the hospital chain.
In a filing to the Singapore Stock Exchange,the Khazanah arm said its partial offer received 60,49,26,786 valid votes, representing 70 per cent of the eligible shareholders.However, only 5 per cent shareholders have tendered their acceptance of the offer so far.
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Khazanah launched a $835-million partial offer for a 51.5 per cent Parkway stake at SGD 3.78 a share. Fortis had launched a $2.3-billion counter-offer at SGD 3.8 per share to fully acquire Parkway.
The partial offer is to close on July 26 or such later date as may be announced from time-to-time by or on behalf of the offerer, the notice said. On the other hand, Fortis' open offer is scheduled to close on August 12. Currently, Fortis owns 25.37 per cent of Parkway, while IHHL has a 23.32 per cent stake.