Fortis Healthcare has announced plans to demerge its hospitals business (Fortis Hospitals) into Manipal Hospital Enterprises Private Limited (Manipal Hospitals).
According to a statement issued on late Tuesday night, the company said that the proposed transaction is subject to shareholders' approval, creditor's approval, applicable regulatory approvals (including Competition Commission of India, SEBI, stock exchanges and National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)) and other customary conditions precedent.
The company's board has also approved sale of its 20 per cent stake in SRL Limited (SRL) to Manipal Hospitals. This brings in more than Rs 7 billion to Fortis.
"The resultant entity Manipal Hospitals will be a publicly traded company listed on NSE and BSE. The remaining FHL will be an investment holding company with 36.6 per cent stake in SRL," the statement said.
"As part of the proposed transaction, Dr. Ranjan Pai and TPG will invest RS 3,900 crore into Manipal Hospitals."
As per the statement, the funds will be utilised by Manipal Hospitals to "finance the acquisition of 50.9 per cent stake in SRL (20.0 per cent from FHL and 30.9 per cent from other investors for which discussions are currently underway)".
"In addition, the investment will support the proposed acquisition of hospital assets owned by RHT Health Trust ("RHT") and the growth of the hospitals and the diagnostics businesses," the statement said.
Accordingly, the combination of Manipal Hospitals and Fortis Hospitals will result in the creation of the largest provider of healthcare services in India by revenue with 41 hospitals in India and 4 hospitals overseas.
"The hospitals' complementary geographic footprints and combined clinical strengths will provide significant scale, revenue and cost synergies," the statement added.
According to an NDTV report, Fortis' main backers, Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh resigned from its board last month in the light of legal troubles that surfaced in the sale of its stake in Ranbaxy to Japan's Daiichi Sankyo. The Ranbaxy case is unrelated to Fortis, the report adds.