Fortis ends in the red on debut

Fortis Healthcare, promoted by the Ranbaxy group family, today got listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) at Rs 105 a share, a discount of Rs 3 per share (or 2.77 per cent) over its issue price of Rs 108.

On the NSE, the shares were listed at a slight premium at Rs 110 a share. But, the shares closed on both the exchanges at a discount of Rs 8 per share (7.4 per cent) at Rs 100. About 23 million shares changed hands on the NSE.

The New Delhi-based Fortis, founded in 1996 by the owners of Ranbaxy Laboratories, runs 11 hospitals in north India. Fortis raised Rs 496-crore by selling 46 million shares in the initial public offering (IPO). The IPO had received demand for 2.78 times the equity on sale.

Bloomberg adds: ``Litigations surrounding the Escorts facilities have made some investors cautious, especially after the company announced an aggressive sale price,'' Himanshu Varia, an analyst with Asit C. Mehta Investment Intermediates Ltd, said. "I expected Fortis to set a double digit sale price.''

New Delhi's land allotment authorities have challenged the rights of Escorts Heart Institute & Research Centre Ltd, or EHIRCL, among the city's best specialty hospitals that Fortis acquired in 2005, to operate on land leased to a charitable body.