Expansion remains priority, await direction from SC on Fortis plea: IHH

Malaysian firm IHH Healthcare on Monday reiterated its intent to continue on its growth plans for Fortis Healthcare, and said growing in India remains a priority for the company.

The group had acquired a 31 per cent controlling stake in Fortis in 2018, which triggered a mandatory open offer toacquire another 26 per cent of Fortis shares from the market.

The open offer has not proceeded due to ongoing legal proceedings with respect to the transaction pending before the Supreme Court where the next hearing is scheduled for February 10, 2021, IHH Healthcare said in a statement.

"Growing in India remains a priority for IHH as it is one of our four home markets, together with Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey," IHH Healthcare MD and CEO Kelvin Loh said.

He added that the company respects and has full faith in the judicial process in India and looks forward to a favourable outcomeso the firm can proceed with the open offer. "This will allow IHH to further invest into Fortis to provide evenmore support to the Indian healthcare sector, especially in critical times like now with COVID-19.