Fortis Healthcare Gets Unsolicited Offer From TPG-Backed Manipal Health

Fortis Healthcare Ltd. today said it has received an unsolicited non-binding offer from TPG-backed Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt. for a possible acquisition even as its founders face allegations of financial irregularities.

The proposal is still under evaluation and the board hasn’t taken a decision yet, India’s second-largest hospital chain said in an exchange filing.

The interest from investors comes in the wake of Fortis Healthcare founders Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh battling allegations of financial irregularities. India’s fraud watchdog and stock market regulator are investigating the company after the Singh brothers allegedly siphoned Rs 500 crore from the company, Bloomberg had reported earlier.

Going ahead, the enlarged company would seek to buy out other shareholders of SRL Ltd., the medical diagnostics provider that’s currently part-owned by Fortis, Bloomberg reported earlier this week. The TPG-backed investor group is in talks to acquire stake in SRL from private-equity investors who hold about 30 percent of the company.

Yes Bank Ltd. had acquired a 17.3 percent stake in the company earlier this month after the erstwhile promoters defaulted on loans provided by the Mumbai-based private bank. The acquisition had made the private lender the biggest shareholder in the hospital chain.

Last month, the Supreme Court ordered that financial institutions holding pledged shares of Fortis Healthcare are free to sell them even as Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo is looking to prevent the Singh brothers from selling assets to enforce its Rs 3,500-crore arbitral award.