A group of Indian and foreign lenders led by Axis Bank is arranging the funds required to finance the deal.
Even as the fate of Fortis’ acquisition of the Singapore-based hospital chain, Parkway Holdings remains unclear, a consortium of Indian and foreign lenders led by the country’s third-largest lender Axis Bank is busy arranging the funds required to finance the deal.
According to the offer made by Fortis early this month, the company has to pay $2.3 billion (around Rs 11,000 crore) to acquire the remaining stake in Parkway Holdings if the deal goes through. Fortis, owned by billionaire brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, own 25.3 per cent of Parkway.
The general offer to acquire all the shares of Parkway was made at S$3.8 per unit as against the S$3.7 per share offer made by Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah’s arm, International Healthcare Holdings Ltd, in May.
Out of the $2.3 billion, Fortis is looking at raising around $1 billion to $1.5 billion as bank loan if it wins the acquisition bid but there is a possibility of this amount going up, a source directly connected to the deal told PTI here.
Interestingly, IDBI Bank, which was earlier keen to part-fund the deal, is understood to have backed out from the consortium. When contacted, an IDBI Bank official said the bank “is no longer part of the Fortis-Parkway deal owing to some internal technical problems”.
Other banks, which are currently participating in the consortium include Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, State Bank, ICICI Bank and and four to five foreign lenders, the source said.
The number of banks in the group could eventually go up to 10-12, the source said.
The initial funding of the deal is likely to be done through a short-term Rupee-Dollar loan carrying 12 months maturity but after this, Fortis may arrange long-term funding, the source said.
Fortis Healthcare on Thursday said its offer to acquire Parkway will close on August 12. Fortis, which is up against an $835-million partial offer from Khazanah to pick up a controlling stake in Parkway, on Thursday dispatched the documents for its voluntary cash offer document to the shareholders of Parkway.
On July 9, Khazanah extended its partial offer for taking control of Parkway to July 26, in a bid to buy more time.
The Fortis offer is being made by Royal Bank of Scotland and Macquarie Capital Singapore on behalf of RHC Healthcare, in which the Singhs hold 51 per cent stake and the remaining 49 per cent is owned by Fortis Healthcare.
