The Kerala Government has asked PTL Enterprises Ltd of the Apollo Tyres Group to defer a move to sell its two hospitals for Rs.181 crore, allegedly far below market rate to a company owned by its chairman Onkar Kanwar.
The company has called an annual general meeting (AGM) on September 22 to seek shareholders’ approval for the sale. “We have written to the company and the board asking them to defer the proposal to sell the hospitals as the deal lacks transparency. We, as co-promoters, were not consulted before the decision was made. But they have not heeded our request, and have gone ahead with electronic voting,” said a top Kerala Government official requesting anonymity.
Since the controlling promoters had majority stake, they were going ahead with voting, the official said.
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The Government of Kerala has 7.5 per cent stake in PTL Enterprises. The State Government’s move comes after minority shareholders raised a storm over the company’s decision to sell the hospitals at such a low price.
In a report, Institutional Investor Advisory Services said that the market value of the hospitals was between Rs.700 crore and Rs.1,000 crore based on the hospital deals taken place recently in the vicinity.