Fortis Healthcare on April 13 said that it has received "an unsolicited non-binding expression of interest (EoI)" from IHH Healthcare Berhad.

According to a BSE filing, Fortis Healthcare's Board of Directors received this EoI from IHH Healthcare Berhad for possible due diligence and participation with the company. The IHH in its letter to the company's Board on April 11, 2018 made an offer of Rs 160 per Fortis share. The development assumes significance as on April 12, Hero Enterprise promoted by Sunil Munjal and the Burman family had offered, in a joint letter, to invest Rs 1,250 crore directly in Fortis Healthcare, to bail out the cash-strapped company.

According to Munjal, the fund infusion "will go beyond addressing the urgent liquidity needs of the company and help the operations stabilise with immediate effect". "Our offer is in the best interests of Fortis Healthcare. "In fact, all those connected with the company's ecosystem, its shareholders, patients, their attendants, the community and public at large, in addition to the lenders, suppliers, doctors, medical and non-medical staff will benefit from it. We are investing in the company and our aim is to create value for all stakeholders," he had said.

On its part, the company in a BSE filing on April 12 said that it has received an "unsolicited binding offer from Hero Enterprise Investment Office and Burman Family Office" with a proposal to invest Rs 1,250 crore into the company through preferential allotment route, subject to certain conditions as mentioned in the "offer letter".

"The said proposal is under evaluation by the company...," the filing said. On March 27, Fortis Healthcare had announced plans to demerge its hospitals business (Fortis Hospitals) into Manipal Hospital Enterprises Private Limited (Manipal Hospitals). According to a statement then, the company said that the proposed transaction is subject to shareholders' approval, creditors' approval, applicable regulatory approvals (including Competition Commission of India, SEBI, stock exchanges and National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)) and other customary conditions precedent.

The company's board has also approved sale of its 20 per cent stake in SRL Ltd to Manipal Hospitals. "The resultant entity Manipal Hospitals will be a publicly traded company listed on NSE and BSE. The remaining FHL will be an investment holding company with 36.6 per cent stake in SRL," the statement said. "As part of the proposed transaction, Dr. Ranjan Pai and TPG will invest RS 3,900 crore into Manipal Hospitals." As per the statement, the funds will be utilised by Manipal Hospitals to "finance the acquisition of 50.9 per cent stake in SRL (20.0 per cent from FHL and 30.9 per cent from other investors for which discussions are currently underway)".

"In addition, the investment will support the proposed acquisition of hospital assets owned by RHT Health Trust ("RHT") and the growth of the hospitals and the diagnostics businesses," the statement said. Accordingly, the combination of Manipal Hospitals and Fortis Hospitals will result in the creation of the largest provider of healthcare services in India by revenue with 41 hospitals in India and 4 hospitals overseas. "The hospitals' complementary geographic footprints and combined clinical strengths will provide significant scale, revenue and cost synergies," the statement added.