IHH Healthcare: Count us in if there is new bidding process for India's Fortis

PETALING JAYA: IHH Healthcare Bhd said today it has confirmed its interest in participating in a new bid process for India's Fortis Healthcare Ltd, should it be called, in the wake of a revised offer from India's Manipal Hospitals.
Manipal in its third revised offer for Fortis, is offering to infuse 2,100 crore rupees at 180 rupees (RM10.55) a share through a preferential allotment, from 160 rupees a share in the previous offer, increasing the value of Fortis to 9,403 crore rupees compared with 8,358 crore rupees earlier.
A week ago, India's cash-strapped Fortis Healthcare Ltd board announced that it had accepted an investment offer from Hero Enterprise Investment Office and Burman Family Office that proposed to invest 18 billion rupees in the hospital chain.
"If there is indeed a new bid process that the board is proposing to initiate, we would like to participate in such a process and request that we be kept informed of any developments. We fully respect any process that is run by the board and reiterate that we wish to engage with the board and the shareholders of Fortis in identifying a mutually-beneficial and optimal solution," IHH managing director and CEO Dr Tan See Leng said in a letter today.
In light of the expiry of the enhanced revised proposal on May 15, 2018, IHH today issued a letter to the board of Fortis extending the acceptance period of the enhanced revised proposal until 11.59 pm on May 29, 2018.
On May 1, IHH made a revised offer to Fortis to reiterate its seriousness and commitment to an investment in Fortis.
In the revised offer, IHH's total allocation for the bid was 40 billion rupees, with a 6.5 billion rupee immediate equity infusion at 175 rupees per share, implying that IHH will take up a 6.7% stake, with the right to appoint two directors to the board of Fortis. The subsequent equity infusion of up to 33.5 billion rupees at a capped price of 175 rupees per share is non-binding and is subject to due diligence.
On Bursa Malaysia today, IHH was up one sen to RM6.12, on volume of 7.57 million shares.