Fortis Healthcare Ltd has hired Macquarie and Religare Capital to raise funds for a possible takeover battle for Singapore’s Parkway Holdings, according to sources.
Fortis, controlled by billionaire brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, was also in talks to hire RBS to help raise funds, said two sources with knowledge of the matter. The sources, who also talked about Macquarie and Religare being hired, declined to be identified as the news is not yet public.
Parkway operates 16 hospitals across Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, India and China. Its prized assets are Singapore hospitals, Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth, whose patients include many wealthy businessmen and politicians from Asia, the Middle East and Russia.
Fortis owns roughly 25 per cent of Parkway and had intended to build up a controlling stake in the company. It was surprised when Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah offered $835 million to lift its stake to a controlling 51.5 per cent.
Under Singapore rules, Fortis will have to make a general offer for Parkway shares it does not own or a potential bid of more than $2.3 billion because it recently bought Parkway shares.
Last week, Fortis unveiled plans to raise as much as $1.2 billion in equity and debt.
Meanwhile, Fortis today said it was keeping its options open on Khazanah’s offer for Parkway. “It will continue to evaluate its options in the best interests of shareholders,” the company said.
“The company will make further announcements on its response to the Khazanah partial offer as and when a decision has been reached…,” Fortis said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. It also said the previously announced fund raising plans were “merely enabling” resolutions.
This is the first official reaction from the Fortis management on the Khazanah offer after latter’s healthcare financing arm — Integrated Healthcare Holdings — announced its plans to increase its stake in Parkway from 23.32 percent to 51.5 percent on May 27. The price offered by Khazanah S$3.78 a share was a 25.2 per cent premium to the last traded price on May 26 ($3.02 a share).
Fortis became the largest shareholder in Parkway after it acquired a 23.9 per cent stake in Parkway for S$959 million (around Rs 3,000 crore) in May. The company increased its stake to 25.3 per cent through open market purchase of shares later. Khazanah owns a 23.32 per cent stake and is the second biggest shareholder in Parkway. Following Khazanah’s announcement, Parkway shares surged on the Singapore Stock Exchange to match the level of open offer price.
