Fortis Healthcare to raise USD 250 million from stake sale

The Mint reported of a possible sale of 15-20% stake of  Fortis Healthcare to private equity firms to raise USD 250 million. They plan to increase the hospital beds capacity.

The owner of Fortis Healthcare, billionaire Singh brothers, Malvinder and Shivinder also plan to sell 6.5% of their stake through a stock auction, the newspaper said.

Fortis Healthcare has about 12,000 beds with 75 hospitals. Apart from India, it operates in South-east Asia and in nine countries. The company aims to raise around USD 250 million through a combination of equity and convertible debt instruments from the PE firms. It reported that the deal could happen over the next two weeks. Private equity firms Carlyle Group and TPG Capital India were approached for selling the stake.

The PE firms are silent about the report while Fortis has denied any such move. CRISIL Research has come out with its report on Fortis Healthcare (India) . The research firm has maintained the fundamental grade of 3/5 to the company in its February 20, 2012 report.

Revenues from the hospital business registered healthy yo-yo growth and were in line with expectations but SRL’s revenues were below expectations. Earnings registered strong growth due to higher other income. They continue to remain positive on Fortis given its leading position in the Indian healthcare industry and maintain the fundamental grade of 3/5.