NEW DELHI: Fortis Healthcare on Friday said that it has shortlisted four entities — Hero Enterprise Investment Office and Burman Family Office, IHH Healthcare Berhand, Radiant Life Care and Manipal-TPG consortium — to restart the bidding process for the sale of its business.
“The company has received interest from various interested parties on May 31, 2018, as per the timelines specified in the Invitation for Transaction Participation. The Board of the Company has now decided to include the four parties in the process,” Fortis said in a regulatory filing.
Earlier this week, Fortis Healthcare initiated a fresh time-bound bidding process by inviting three original bidders — Munjal-Burman Consortium, Manipal-TPG Consortium and IHH Healthcare — to participate in the process for its sale, after terminating the offer made by the Munjal-Burman combine. Munjal-Burmans, after winning a five-way bidding battle for the healthcare chain on May 10, gave their consent to restart bidding process amid objections raised by some shareholders.
Radiant Life Care, backed by US private equity firm KKR which was earlier in the race to buy Fortis, is also now considered by the reconstituted Board members to rebid for the cash-strapped healthcare chain.
Post the short-listing, the bidders will now be given 10 days for financial and legal due diligence, and an opportunity to interact with the management. Following this, they have to submit bids by June 14. The Board, with the help of financial and legal advisors, will recommend the best offer to shareholders.
Fortis has already specified that it will evaluate binding bids that offer a minimum infusion of Rs 1,500 crore through a preferential allotment, plans to fund the company’s acquisition of RHT Health Trust assets, and plans to provide exit to private equity investors of SRL, among others.
In other major development, Fortis has appointed Ravi Rajagopal as the chairman of the company’s Board with immediate effect. The 63-year-old chartered accountant is currently a non-executive independent director on the Fortis Board. Rajgopal currently serves as the chairman for JM Financial Services Singapore, as well as an independent director and chairman of the audit committee for Vedanta Resources Plc.