Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the investment arm of the Malaysian government, has extended the deadline for its $835-million (about Rs 3,900 crore) partial offer for Parkway Holdings, the Singapore-based healthcare provider. Its partial offer for Parkway was due to close today, but will now be open until July 26.
The extension came after Khazanah failed to muster sufficient shareholders’ support for its offer. The Malaysian company, which needs 313 million shares for the offer to succeed, said it had received acceptance from shareholders who hold 14.19 million shares (4.5 per cent).
Khazanah offer turned less attractive after Fortis Healthcare made a $2.3-billion (Rs 10,700 crore) counter-offer to acquire all shares that it does not own in Parkway. Fortis, owned by the Singh brothers, Malvinder and Shivinder, controls Parkway with roughly 25 per cent stake.
Industry analysts feel the extension of Khazanah’s partial offer is just to see Fortis’ formal announcement, after which Khazanah can revise its offer price to make it more attractive.
The Parkway battle began on 27 May after Khazanah announced a conditional offer to acquire a 51.5 stake in the company. Following Khazanah offer, Fortis and its founders offered to buy Parkway for S$ 3.80 a share, a price marginally higher than Khazanah’s S$3.78 a share offer. The difference was that while all Khazanah’s obligation was to acquire only 27 per cent of the shares that it does not own, Fortis’ offer is for the entire shares of the company.
Fortis became the largest shareholder in Parkway after it acquired a 23.9 per cent stake for S$959 million (around Rs 3,000 crore) from US investment company TPG Holdings in May.
