The Fortis Healthcare scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs 159.80 before ending at Rs 154.05, up 1.54%, on Thursday since the previous close of Rs 152. The jump in the stock of the company was seen as a reaction to an FE report that Reliance Industries Ltd is considering a foray into healthcare by entering into the hospital business and may be interested in buying a 26% stake in Fortis Healthcare.
While RIL spokesperson declined to comment on the issue, Fortis spokesperson denied receiving any such offer from RIL. Fortis spokesperson said the speculation is utterly baseless and there is no such discussion under way.
Meanwhile the UK-based FrontPoint, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, purchased another 1 lakh shares of Singapore-based Parkway Holdings, which stands at the centre of the tussle between Malaysian government’s investment arm Khazanah and the second largest hospital chain in the country, Fortis Healthcare.
This takes the total number of Parkway shares that Morgan Stanley has bought since Khazanah has launched its open offer to over 2.8 lakh shares. FrontPoint has bought Parkway shares at a price of S$3.84 per share, which is more than the partial offer price launched by Khazanah’s offer price of S$3.78 a share. Singapore?s securities regulator has asked India?s Fortis Healthcare to announce whether it plans to counter Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah?s bid for hospital chain Parkway Holdings by July 30 in shareholders? interest.
Parkway, Asia’s largest hospital chain is now at the centre of a probable bidding war between Singh family promoted Fortis Heathcare and Khazanah. Both, Malaysian state fund Khazanah and Fortis are the two largest stakeholder in Parkway with 23.1% and 25.3% shares respectively.