TPG-backed Manipal Health Offers Fortis Unsolicited proposal

Fortis Healthcare Ltd has received an unsolicited non-binding acquisition proposal from Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, backed by private equity firm TPG Capital, amid separate media reports of a likely merger between the two hospital chains.

Fortis in its disclosure said the proposal is being evaluated by the board

Shares of the company were down 3.18% to Rs 143 on BSE at 1:56 pm.

Reports of likely sale of Fortis, India’s second-largest hospital chain, have been doing the rounds for months now. Malaysia-based hospital operator IHH Healthcare was also in the fray to buy Fortis.

The reports come at a time when Fortis Founders Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, until recently counted among India’s billionaires, have all but lost control of the healthcare firm after their stakes plunged to low single digits.

The brothers, who have been divesting and are mired in legal cases, now own a stake of only 0.77% in Fortis compared with nearly 25% at the end of December 2017, stock-exchange filings show.