New Delhi: Sparking a potential full-blown corporate tussle between two of India's leading hospital chains, Max Healthcare Institute is eyeing the Emami Group's AMRI Hospitals based in Kolkata with a counter offer that outweighs an earlier Manipal Health Enterprises (MHE) bid by Rs 900 crore.
Sources close to Emami told The Economic Times that Max has made a counteroffer of Rs 2,700 crore to buy the AMRI chain in order to strengthen its position in the east. However, some sources close to Max Healthcare denied the news of making any offer for AMRI.
AMRI that operates three super-specialty hospitals in Kolkata, as well as one in Bhubaneswar with a total capacity of 1,200 beds is debt-ridden. Most of the debt, Rs 1352 crore, is in form of unsecured loans from promoter group companies. As per Care Ratings, AMRI's total debt as of September 30, 2021 was Rs 1654 crore, up from Rs 1587 crore at the end of March, 2021.
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A few days ago, in November, Manipal Health moved the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain the Emami Group from selling or transferring its 94% stake in the latter's healthcare business, AMRI Hospitals, to any third party or alter its management during the pendency of the arbitration proceedings.
Manipal has not clearly highlighted Max in its legal filing but has asked the court to intervene in order to complete the Rs 1800-crore deal it had agreed to with Emami's promoter family.
While MHE asked the HC to appoint an arbitrator to resolve the dispute, AMRI's opposed it saying there is "no agreement" between them.
The petition filed by counsel Rishi Agarwala on behalf of MHE stated that the Emami group with "malafide intent demanded more money" than what had been agreed upon and was now negotiating with others for the stake sale.
Meanwhile, senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for AMRI, stated that there was no agreement between the parties and since it was a contingency contract subject to certain conditions like clearance from the state government, which was not received, the hospital was "not bound" to go ahead with the "void" transaction.
Justice Yashwant Verma asked Kolkata-based AMRI Hospitals and 32 others, including Emami Ltd founder and chairman Emeritus Radheshyam Agarwal to respond to MHE's petition and posted the matter for further hearing on December 7, reports The Economic Times,
A meeting between Manipal and Emami's senior leadership last week in Mumbai was the literally last tipping point, resulting in a complete breakdown in negotiations, sources close to Emami told ET.