(Apr 13): Fortis Healthcare said it has received a joint investment proposal from two Indian business families, intensifying a race to gain control of the country’s second-largest private hospital chain.

Hero Enterprise Investment Office and the Burman Family Office have made a binding offer to invest a total of 12.5 billion rupees ($192 million) through a preferential share allotment at at least 156 rupees a share, according to a Fortis exchange filing on Thursday. The proposal, which is subject to certain conditions, includes an immediate investment of 5 billion rupees and 7.5 billion rupees after diligence is completed within three weeks.

The race for Fortis is heating up as a TPG-backed Indian firm sweetened its initial offer that values the company at 155 rupees ($3.11) a share, and IHH Healthcare proposed a bid of up to 160 rupees apiece. The competing proposals are the latest twist in the Fortis saga, with India’s fraud watchdog and stock regulator probing the company after Bloomberg News reported that its founders took at least 5 billion rupees out of the company without board approval.

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