A day after Fortis Healthcare extended the deadline for final bidding, Hero Enterprise and Burman Family on Sunday expressed their surprise on the decision and said that equal opportunity should be provided to all the parties involved in the process.
Hero Enterprise and Burman Family have submitted a proposal to invest Rs 1,500 crore in Fortis.
In a statement, Hero Enterprise chairman Sunil Munjal said: "We have just heard about the announcement made by Fortis and are a bit surprised as we had assumed that the final bids were submitted and the process now was only to review and choose the best offer." Munjal made this statement on behalf of himself, Mohit Burman and Anand Burman.
On Saturday, Fortis decided to extend the deadline for all binding bids from the interested buyers till May 10, 2018. In a filing to BSE, the board said that the two-member Expert Advisory Committee will only consider evaluating all binding bids received by the firm till 12:00 noon on May 1.
Fortis, however, gave Manipal-TPG consortium time till May 6 to revise their offer. It said: "In line with the obligations towards Manipal and TPG consortium, if any new or modified binding bids are received anytime till 12.00 Noon on May 01, 2018; Manipal and TPG consortium have the ability to revise their offer till May 06, 2018."
So far, four entities -- KKR-backed Radiant Life Care, Malaysia-based IHH Healthcare, Manipal-TPG consortium and Munjal and Burman family offices -- have given their binding offers for the Fortis Healthcare.
Munjal in his statement said that the entity - Hero Enterprise and Burman Family - strongly believes that there should be equal opportunity given to all bidders without any unfair advantage to any one party. Sunil Kant Munjal and the Burman family currently hold around 3 per cent stake in Fortis Healthcare.
Fortis has already received binding offers from four entities - KKR-backed Radiant Life Care, Malaysia-based IHH Healthcare, Manipal-TPG consortium and Munjal and Burman family offices.
Last week, Manipal Health Enterprises revised its offer and proposed to invest Rs 6,322 crore in Fortis. KKR-backed Radiant Life Care made a revised bid with a binding offer to acquire its Mulund hospital for an enterprise value of Rs 1,200 crore. Malaysia-based IHH Healthcare made a binding offer to infuse Rs 650 crore in healthcare chain.
The board will meet on May 10 to consider recommendations of the EAC.
With inputs from PTI