IHH backs Fortis acquisition amidst India forensic audit order

The court denied Fortis’ petition challenging a required forensic audit.

IHH Healthcare maintains that its subsidiary’s acquisition of a stake in Fortis Healthcare is transparent, widely public, and fully regulated, following a supreme court decision to audit Fortis.

On 25 September, the Supreme Court of India disposed of a special leave petition filed by Fortis that challenges the Delhi’s High Court order that required a forensic audit in relation to Fortis as well as “certain observations made concerning the company,” IHH stated in a Singapore Exchange filing on 28 September.

IHH said that it will fully cooperate with the forensic audit.

IHH Healthcare stated that its subsidiary Northern TK Venture Pte Ltd (NTK)’s stake acquisition in Fortis in 2018 obtained all necessary corporate, shareholder, and regulatory approvals.

IHH Healthcare said that it acquired no secondary shares from Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh, former owners and promoters of Fortis, and that no payments were made to them.

IHH’s investment in Fortis took place many months after the Singh brothers had resigned from the Fortis board and that IHH ‘had no interaction with the erstwhile promoters,” the company said.

Since 2019, IHH has denied making any deals with the Singh brothers.

“IHH was not a party to the dispute or execution proceedings between Daiichi Sankyo and its judgment debtors,” IHH said in the bourse filing on 28 September.

“Despite not being involved in those proceedings, IHH suffered losses arising from delays in obtaining the mandatory tender offer approvals required for its acquisition of Fortis,” it added.

On 10 September, the Tokyo District Court dismissed all of NTK’s claims against Daiichii Sankyo Co. The court ordered NTK to bear the litigation costs.

IHH is a multinational healthcare company active in 10 countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, India, and China, with over 76,000 employees and 89 hospitals.