Wednesday June 16, 2010
NEW DELHI: India’s Fortis Healthcare has hired Macquarie and Religare Capital to raise funds for a possible battle with Khazanah Nasional Bhd over Singapore’s Parkway Holdings, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Fortis, controlled by Indian billionaire brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, was also in talks to hire Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to help raise funds, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is not yet public.
Fortis, which owns roughly 25% of Parkway, had wanted to build a controlling stake in the firm before Khazanah made a surprise US$835mil (RM2.73bil) offer to lift its stake to 51.5%.
In a later statement, Fortis said it was keeping options open on Khazanah’s offer for Parkway.
Fortis said it would continue to evaluate its options in the best interest of its shareholders.
Under Singapore rules, Fortis will have to make a general offer for Parkway shares it does not own or a potential bid of more than US$2.3bil because it recently bought Parkway shares.
Last week, Fortis unveiled plans to raise as much as US$1.2bil in equity and debt.
“All these steps indicate Fortis is very aggressive about Parkway and is working towards arranging funds within the limited timeframe for the counter-bid,” Sapna Jhawar, an analyst with Mumbai-based brokerage Sharekhan, told Reuters.
Fortis would have to offer a 6% to 10% premium over Khazanah’s offer to attract shareholders, analysts said.
Khazanah is offering S$3.78 a share to double its stake in Parkway, valuing the entire company at S$4.27bil (US$3.06bil).
Citing its television channel ET Now, India’s Economic Times newspaper reported yesterday that a consortium of banks was willing to fund up to US$1bil.
Sources told Reuters the banks’ mandate was to arrange debt and they were not involved in Fortis’ equity-raising plans.
A fund linked to Morgan Stanley recently bought Parkway shares for its clients above Khazanah’s offer price, fuelling speculation about a counter offer.
Morgan Stanley is also the independent financial adviser to Parkway. Deutsche Bank is advising Khazanah.
Meanwhile, Tee Lin Say reports that while Fortis was not available for comment, a Singapore-based analyst tracking Parkway said although unconfirmed, it appeared highly likely Fortis was looking to counter bid Khazanah.
“Why would they hire investment banks so close to Khazanah’s formal offer for Parkway? They also just became new shareholders and have barely warmed their seats,” she said.
Kim Eng Securities Pte Ltd analyst Anni Kum said that if Khazanah succeeded in its partial offer, Fortis’ Malvinder Singh may have to give up his role as Parkway chairman, contend with being far behind as the second largest shareholder and compromise his global ambitions.
“Gains from exiting are also not enticing, given the narrow premium over his US$3.56 entry. Hence, a counter bid seems most ideal,” Kum said. “For Fortis, the control of Parkway could be worth fighting for as the group is the only listed premier integrated healthcare player with a regional footprint in Asia.”
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/6/16/business/6477989&sec=business
No comments:
Post a Comment