Fortis Healthcare’s rights issue likely in Oct

Shivinder Mohan Singh, MD, Fortis Healthcare briefing the media after a meeting with Manmohan Singh in New Delhi. File Photo: V.V. Krishnan

Hospital chain Fortis Healthcare’s Rs 1,000-crore rights issue is likely to hit the market by October, with the firm taking fresh steps to realise the plan.

“We will soon file a letter of offer (LOF) next week. The decision was taken at a board meeting held recently,” Fortis Healthcare CEO & Managing Director Shivinder Mohan Singh told reporters here at the sidelines of a FICCI event.

It was decided that Fortis Healthcare would soon approach SEBI after finalising all details, he added.

Companies file LOF at the time of rights issue, which is the equivalent of the Draft Red Herring Prospectus filed at the time of initial public offer.

“We expect the rights issue by October,” a source said.

Fortis Healthcare’s Rs 1,000-crore rights issue has been on the anvil since last year but unfavourable market conditions have prevented the company from hitting the market.

At the time of getting approval from its board last December, the healthcare chain had said proceeds of the rights issue would be used primarily for funding green-field projects including the upcoming Medi-City in Gurgaon, redemption of preference shares, and repayment of short term debt, besides upgrading existing facilities.

The company sources said the final LOF will include disclosures of the recent Rs 909-crore acquisition of ten Wockhardt Hospitals.