Munjal-Burman offer gives certainty of funds: Fortis

Gurugram : The decision by the Fortis Healthcare board to recommend the offer of the Hero and Burman Family consortium for sale of its business was primarily guided by the certainty of liquidity flowing in to enable greater efficiency, while the decision was not unanimous, Fortis Director Brian Tempest said on Friday.

Following a board meeting here that lasted till late on Thursday, Fortis said its board had decided to recommend the offer of Hero Enterprise Investment Office-Burman Family Office to its shareholders.

“The Board, by a majority, decided to recommend the Hero-Burman Family offer to shareholders looking at the binding bids for the point of certainty of liquidity flowing into the company,” Tempest told reporters here.

“Hero-Dabur have 30-40 investments in healthcare, have one hospital, which has a nurses training college and another training hospital. To run this business efficiently, we’ll need a regular supply of nurses and doctors,” he said.

Fortis had received binding offers from four suitors – Radiant Life Care, IHH Healthcare, the Manipal-TPG consortium, and Munjal and Burman family offices. The winners’ offer was not the highest.

The Munjal-Burman consortium’s revised offer made on May 1 included an upfront equity infusion of Rs 800 crore at a price of Rs 167 per share through preferential allotment. It had also offered a further amount of Rs 1,000 crore through preferential issue of warrants.

Tempest also said five members of the eight-member board had voted in favour of the winners, while three members voted for “another party”, without revealing details.

On allegations of mismanagement and siphoning off of funds in Fortis Healthcare, Tempest said an internal audit committee had found no evidence of wrongdoing but their legal advisors were conducting a separate forensic audit under the supervision of Grant and Thornton.

Published on May 11, 2018 at 14:40 IST

IANS