Fortis may hold back Parkway counter-bid

Fortis Healthcare may avoid a hurried response to counter Malaysian investment fund Khazanah’s bid to acquire management control over Asia’s largest health care chain Parkway Holdings from Fortis which holds the largest number of shares in Parkway.

The Singh-family promoted company, which runs the largest chain of private hospitals in India, may in turn adopt a wait and watch policy, with options open to respond in case of an imminent threat to its management control over Parkway, sources close to Fortis said.

According to the sources, what has given Fortis breathing space is the value at which the shares of Parkway Holdings are being traded in the Singapore Stock Exchange. While Khazanah’s offer was to gain 51.5 per cent stake in Parkway through a purchase of its 313 million shares at S$3.78 (around Rs 126) a share, Parkway shares were trading at almost the same price (S$3.72 on Friday) during the week.

“Unless Khazanah sweetens its offer, which is reported to be unlikely, the response may not be so good,” said an analyst who tracks health care sector.

Experts feel Fortis need not counter Khazanah’s offer if the chances of the Malaysian government-owned fund acquiring majority stake in the company is weak.

“In the eventuality of an unsuccessful open offer, Fortis can maintain status quo and think about increasing its stake in Parkway at a later stage,” said a source.

On June 4, Parkway had announced the appointment of Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) as its independent financial advisor on the Khazanah offer, a mandatory requirement under Singapore laws.

A week before, Khazanah’s health care financing arm — Integrated Healthcare Holdings — had announced its plans to increase its stake in the company to 51.5 per cent from 23.32 per cent. The price offered by Khazanah was a 25.2 per cent premium to the last traded price (on May 26) of S$3.02 a share.

Khazanah’s announcement had triggered expectations of a counter offer from Fortis, which became the largest shareholder in Parkway after it acquired 23.9 per cent stake in Parkway for S$959 million (around Rs 3,000 crore) in May. The company increased its stake to 25.3 per cent through open market purchase of shares later.

Following Khazanah’s offer, Parkway shares surged 27 per cent, highest in 12 years, to even cross the offer price during the week.

Disclosures to the Singapore Stock Exchange during the last week indicates that executives having some connection with Parkway group have been selling some of their shares almost every day after the Khazanah offer.