SINGAPORE (June 18): Fortis Hospitals, India's leading private hospital chain, has decided to close the bidding and search process to explore the possibility of sale of interest in RHT Health Trust (RHT) and RHT Health Trust Manager (RHTTM).
The decision was made after no commercially viable proposal was received by Fortis Hospitals, Fortis Healthcare International Limited (FHIL) and Stellant Capital Advisory Services involving the potential sale or any other transaction involving RHT and the trustee-manager, said RHTTM in a Monday night filing.
Fortis Hospitals owns a 27.82% stake in RHT, which includes 25.14% holding by FHIL and 2.68% by the RHTTM, a unit of Stellant. FHIL and Stellant are both wholly-owned subsidiaries of Fortis Healthcare.
“Fortis, FHIL and Stellant have therefore ceased to actively explore other options for RHT and/or the trustee-manager,” added RHTTM.
RHTTM says it will continue to consider various options available for RHT, including identifying any possible new business for RHT which is able to satisfy the requirements of the Singapore Exchange for a new listing, or the winding up of RHT.
According to listing rules, SGX will remove RHT from its official list if the trust is unable to meet requirements for a new listing within 12 months from the time it becomes a cash trust. The trustee manager may apply for a maximum six-month extension if it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a new business, which needs to be completed within the six-month extension.
Earlier in January this year, Fortis Healthcare completed the acquisition of RHT Health Trust assets, which was promoted by brothers - Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh - who resigned from the board of Fortis Healthcare in 2018. In February 2018, Fortis had announced that it will acquire RHT's entire portfolio of assets for an enterprise value of Rs 4,650 crore or approximately $913 million.
On April 8 this year, Fortis had announced that it was in talks with potential buyers to sell its stake in RHT. The company reportedly intended to use the fund proceed to plough back into its business in India.
RHT Health Trust says report of buyout by Fortis ‘speculative’
As at 10.58am, units in RHT Health Trust are trading 0.1 cent higher at 2 cents
