Khazanah unit gets good response for Parkway offer

Thursday July 22, 2010




By TEE LIN SAY

linsay@thestar.com.my





PETALING JAYA: In a blow to Fortis Healthcare Ltd, Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s unit, Integrated Healthcare Holdings Ltd, says it has secured 50.5% approval to date from Parkway shareholders who have voted for its partial offer.



This means that it has met one of the two criteria for the partial offer to go through – which is to secure a 50% approval of the shareholders, as well as to receive acceptances for no less that 313 million shares.



“I believe Fortis has voted. This shows that the majority are for Khazanah. The game is definitely still on,” said an observer.



In an update to the Singapore stock exchange, Integrated Health-care said it had received an aggregate of 604.93 million valid votes from offer shareholders on the partial offer. This represents about 70% of the total number of shares which are eligible to vote on the offer.





If Khazanah succeeds in its partial offer, Malvinder Singh (right) may have to give up his role as Parkway’s chairman. Malvinder and brother Shivinder control Fortis Healthcare. – Reuters



Of these valid votes received, about 50.5% were to approve the partial offer. In addition, 15.7 million shares have been tendered as acceptances. These represent about 5% of the 313 million offer shares.



The partial offer is scheduled to close at 5.30pm on Monday.



It should be noted that some 30% of eligible shareholders holding approximately 261.1 million Parkway shares have yet to vote. The level of acceptances so far also remains low at 1.4% of Parkway’s issued share capital.



There is a possibility that Khazanah may extend its offer period.



Khazanah owns 24% while Fortis owns 25.3% of Parkway. Khazanah is offering S$3.78 a share to more than double its interest in Parkway to 51.5%.



In a counter bid, India’s Fortis, backed by billionaires Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, is offering S$3.80 to shareholders for all Parkway shares that it doesn’t already own.



“If Khazanah succeeds in its partial offer, Malvinder Singh may have to give up his role as Parkway’s chairman, contend with being far behind as the second largest shareholder and compromise his global ambitions,” said an analyst who tracks Parkway.



She added that gains from exiting were also not enticing given the narrow premium over his $3.56 entry.



Both Fortis and Khazanah want to use Parkway, which runs hospitals in Singapore, Malaysia, India and China, to spearhead their regional expansion in the booming healthcare market.


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