Fortis to list Super Religare Labs

Fortis Healthcare Ltd plans to list its pathology unit in India next year and is seeking other acquisitions in Asia after walking away from a bidding war for the region’s largest hospital operator.

The company also plans to start a health insurance business in India and is in talks with the country’s regulators, billionaire Chairman Malvinder Singh said in an interview here today. He declined to say when the business may begin.

Fortis will forge ahead with plans to use Singapore as a base to become a “pan-Asia health-care leader” and has a team scouting for opportunities in the region, Singh said. New Delhi-based Fortis agreed to sell its stake in Parkway Holdings Ltd this week after Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional Bhd trumped an offer by the Indian company to take over the Singapore-based hospital operator.

“In Asia we see huge opportunities for health care,” said Singh, 37. “We see a substantial demand-supply gap. Asia is in a strong position from a GDP-growth viewpoint and the need for health care.”

Singh, based in Singapore, said the Indian company is looking at investing in the city-state. He declined to give details on possible targets and how much might be spent. Fortis may also have its shares traded in Singapore to tap capital markets in the city, Singh said, without giving a timeframe.

Fortis gained less than 0.1 per cent to Rs 157.10 at the 3.30 pm close in Mumbai trading, while India’s benchmark Sensitive Index rose 0.2 per cent.

‘Vehicle and platform’
“Parkway was a vehicle and platform that we wanted to build upon and leverage in order to achieve our vision,” Singh said. “It’s not Parkway today, it will be something else.”

Fortis is expanding in pathology services through its Super Religare Laboratories Ltd business. Super Religare said on July 14 it agreed to buy Piramal Healthcare Ltd’s diagnostics unit for Rs 6 billion ($129 million). Singh said the combined entity is the biggest pathology company in Asia outside Japan.

Singh plans to list the pathology company on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The executive, who has an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, declined to specify how much the company will seek in the IPO.