Has Fortis Healthcare finally found a buyer? Surge in share price suggests so

Fortis Healthcare share price spiked nearly 6 per cent on Monday, following news reports that Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Bhd could be the likely winner, after a long-drawn bidding battle, to buy the healthcare firm. The stock rallied as much as 5.93 per cent to Rs 146.45 on the BSE.   

According to a Mint report IHH Healthcare is likely to acquire control of Fortis with a binding offer to buy at least 51 per cent for Rs 4700-5400 crore.

"IHH Healthcare outbid TPG-backed Manipal Health Enterprises Ltd, the only other contender for Fortis, by placing a higher per share offer for the promoters and also offering to buy out Fortis’s non-promoter shareholders at a 10-15% premium to the agreed purchase price," the Mint report said. 

Meanwhile, Fortis on Saturday reported no change in the audited financial statements from the unaudited one and said that it is currently in the process of evaluating the bids for investment into the company.

The company on Saturday released its consolidated audited financial results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2018.

According to FHL, "there has been no change in the figures reported in the audited financial statements compared to the unaudited results announced on June 27, 2018".

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"With the release of the audited financial statements, we have addressed an important objective that we had set for ourselves, as a reconstituted board comprising of independent directors, in the backdrop of recent developments," Ravi Rajagopal, Chairman, Board of Directors, Fortis Healthcare said in a statement.

"Our focus in the future will be in strengthening governance and transparency and restoring the health of the business. We are also currently in the process of evaluating the bids received on July 3, 2018 and will present our recommendation to the shareholders in the coming days."