With the final evaluation of bids received for Fortis Healthcare Ltd scheduled in just a few days time, the company has appointed investment banking firm Arpwood Capital Private Limited as financial advisor to the board of directors of the company.

“….Arpwood Capital will provide its independent opinion on the offers received or to be received from bidders for a potential significant equity investment and/or acquisition or restructuring of its assets, and on the appropriateness of the process put into place for dealing with the offers,” FHL stated in a submission to the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday.

The decision to appoint Arpwood Capital, which provides merger, acquisition and capital raising advisory services, was taken at the meeting of the board of directors on April 27, 2018.

The Fortis board is scheduled to meet on May 10 to take a decision on the binding bids in line with the recommendations of the expert advisory committee.

Malaysia’s IHH Berhad and the Hero-Munjal duo had improved their bids on May 1, the last day for bidding by suitors. Manipal Health Enterprises Private Limited, however, has time till May 6 to improve its bid based on the revised proposals of its competitors.

Daiichi Sankyo arbitration case

In a separate submission to the BSE and the NSE, the company referred to a letter filed on April 5, 2018, where it informed that Daiichi had filed an application asking for “maintaining status quo of the assets of the company and such other related matters”, thereby, seeking injunction on the scheme of arrangement for demerger of the hospital business of the company into Manipal Health Enterprises Private Limited (Manipal).

The application was again heard on April 25, 2018, where no orders were passed against the company, the submission pointed out, adding that a copy of the order was only made available to FHL on May 4, 2018.

However, in compliance of the order dated April 5, 2018, the company had already on April 23, 2018, filed its short affidavit in reply to the said application filed by Daiichi, it said.

The High Court of Delhi on April 25, 2018, held that the court commissioner/chartered accountant appointed by the court is at liberty to make a list of shares owned by the judgment debtors (former FHL promoters Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh) which are traded on the stock exchanges and such shares may be sold after permission of the High Court and the proceeds be deposited in the court, the submission added.

The Delhi High Court judgment is in relation to the enforcement of a ₹3,500 crore arbitration case of the Singh brothers with Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd.

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