Axis-led group readies funds for Fortis' Parkway deal

Even as the fate of Fortis Healthcare's bid for acquisition of Singapore-based hospital chain Parkway Holdings remains unclear, a consortium of Indian and foreign lenders led by Axis Bank is busy arranging the funds required to finance the deal.

Other banks which are a part of the consortium include Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, State Bank, ICICI Bank and four to five foreign lenders, a source directly connected to the deal told PTI here.

The number of banks in the group could eventually go up to 10-12, the source said.

According to the offer made by Fortis early this month, the company will 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 3.8 Singapore dollars per unit as against the SGD 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 through bank loans if it wins the acquisition bid, but there is a possibility of this amount going up, the source said.

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."

The initial funding of the deal is likely to be done through a short-term Rupee-US 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 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 a 51 per cent stake and the remaining 49 per cent is owned by Fortis Healthcare.