NCLT allows Fortis to withdraw amalgamation scheme

Fortis Healthcare today said National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) bench in Chandigarh has approved the withdrawal of the scheme of amalgamation between Fortis Malar Hospitals and SRL. In a regulatory filing, Fortis Healthcare said: "We would like to inform that the NCLT, Chandigarh Bench has today approved the withdrawal of the said scheme." Yesterday, the healthcare chain had said that it is withdrawing the scheme due to delay in completion of the process and strong headwinds in the sector.

"The entire process was expected to take 6-8 months, however, due to reasons beyond the company's control, the process has taken over 19 months and is still not complete," it had said. On August 19, 2016, the board of Fortis had approved a proposal to demerge its diagnostics business, including that housed in its subsidiary SRL Ltd into another majority-owned subsidiary, Fortis Malar Hospitals pursuant to a composite scheme of arrangement and amalgamation.

As part of the process, Fortis Malar was to sell its hospital business to Fortis Healthcare by way of a slump sale for a lump sum cash consideration of Rs 43 crore. The cash-strapped healthcare provider in May-end decided to initiate a fresh, time-bound bidding process for the company.