Singapore-listed health care company RHT Health Trust on Wednesday said its controlling shareholder Fortis Healthcare proposed to buy the entire asset portfolio of the firm for 46.5 billion Indian rupees (S$965.95 million).
RHT Health Trust Manager Pte Ltd said it has received a proposal from India-based Fortis to acquire all the sale securities held by RHT Singapore's wholly-owned subsidiaries, Fortis Global Healthcare Infrastructure Pte Ltd and RHT Healthtrust Services Pte Ltd, the company announced in a regulatory filing.
Fortis, which operates its healthcare delivery services in India, Dubai, Mauritius and Sri Lanka, holds an indirect stake of about 29.76 percent of units in RHT.
With regards to the proposed sale, RHT Health Trust Manager has entered into a term sheet with Fortis, which provides for a sixty-day period to negotiate exclusively with each other.
The term sheet is subject to the parties entering into definitive agreements and further details will be announced in the event the definitive agreements are entered into by the parties, the company said.
Fortis plans to fund the proposed transaction with a combination of equity, quasi-equity and/or debt. It has been in active dialogue with strategic investors to raise funds, supported by Standard Chartered Bank as its financial advisor for this
purpose, the company said.
RHT Health Trust has appointed Merrill Lynch (Singapore) as financial adviser for the proposed deal.
Separately on Wednesday, RHT Health Trust said fiscal second-quarter distribution per unit fell 15.5 percent to 1.14 Singapore cents due to increased refinancing and interest costs.
Revenue grew 4.9 percent to S$23.95 million in the three months to September 30, it said in an exchange filing.
Shares in the company jumped about 12 percent to S$0.91 on the Singapore Exchange.
