`Escorts-acquisition benefits in three years’
It has been a year since Fortis Healthcare acquired Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre Ltd (EHIRC). But it will take another two or three years before the complete benefits from this acquisition begin to flow, Mr Shivinder M. Singh, Group Managing Director with Fortis Healthcare, told Business Line.
Last September, Escorts Ltd had sold its equity in EHIRC to Fortis Healthcare for Rs 585 crore.
Escorts Heart Institute in Delhi is making profits, albeit declining, he said. As part of integration efforts in terms of processes and employees, efforts are also on to increase the profits at Escorts-Delhi, he said.
The company is also looking at turning around the Escorts Hospitals at Faridabad and Amritsar, he said, adding that the association with the Kanpur hospital has been discontinued.
IPO planned
The estimated Rs 443-crore Fortis Healthcare is promoted by the Ranbaxy-family. Fortis is coming out with an initial public offer to dilute upto 25 per cent equity in the company and raise between Rs 700 to 900 crore. Ranbaxy at present holds 8 per cent in the company.
The funds are being raised to retire debts of about Rs 500 crore that came through the Escorts acquisition, besides supporting plans for new hospitals that are still in the pipeline, he said. The hospital chain is looking to focus on eight to 10 specialities including cardiac care, he indicated.
Future plans
Unwilling to give details on future plans, he said that the healthcare company would look to replicate the network of hospitals created in the North, in other regions of the country as well. And growth could come through new hospitals or acquisitions, depending on the opportunity, he said.
Fortis at present runs about seven hospitals in New Delhi and a total of 12 hospitals in North India. The Fortis-partnered Medicity project coming up in the national Capital region is not part of the IPO plan, he said.
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