Fortis to decide on rights issue pricing in a month

Hospital chain Fortis Healthcare, looking to raise Rs 1,000 crore through a rights issue, will take a call on the pricing of shares within a month, a top company official said today.

"We have received comments from Sebi and will shortly (in two to three weeks) fill the letter of offer for the rights issue," Fortis Healthcare Managing Director Shivinder M Singh told reporters here.

Fortis, planning to raise Rs 1,000 crore through its rights issue, would use the funds for its expansion plans, he said.

"The objective of the rights issue is to fuel our expansion. Our target is to raise Rs 1,000 crore from the issue."

The company, which currently has a chain of 28 hospitals, is also looking at inorganic and organic growth, including increasing its land-bank, he said.

"We are planning three greenfield hospitals. One of them - Medi-City - will come up in Gurgaon," he said.

Singh, however, did not divulge information about the remaining two hospitals.

The first phase of the Medi-City will be completed by the third-quarter of 2010, Singh said.

Fortis also plans to increase its bed capacity to 6,000 in the next three years, he said.

"We will increase our number of beds from around 3,000 to 6,000 over a period of next three years."

For the quarter ended March 31, 2009, Fortis posted a net profit of Rs 6.69 crore, while its total income stood at Rs 172.75 crore.