by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Corporate finance, Investing
New Delhi : Fortis Healthcare on Friday said its board has unanimously accepted a binding offer from IHH Healthcare Berhad of Malaysia to invest Rs 4,000 crore in it by way of preferential allotment at Rs 170 per share.
Last week, Fortis said that its board has received binding bids from IHH and TPG-Manipal consortium under the new transaction process.
“The Board of Directors of Fortis Healthcare unanimously decided to recommend the binding investment proposal from IHH Healthcare Berhad to invest Rs 4,000 crore by way of preferential allotment at a price per share of Rs 170,” a company statement said here.
“The proposal provides for refinance of debt to the extent of Rs 2,500 crore.”
The funds infused would be used towards completing the acquisition of assets of the Singapore-listed RHT Health Trust, SRL private equity minority shareholders and short term liquidity needs, the statement added.
IHH will make “a mandatory open offer to the public shareholders of Fortis as per the SAST regulations at price which is higher than Rs 170 per share or price determined under SAST regulations for 26 per cent of the outstanding shares post issuance”.
According to Fortis, in approving the IHH offer, its board considered the merits of both the binding bids and took into account the recommendation of its financial advisors, Standard Chartered Bank and Arpwood Capital and legal advice.
Providing the rationale for the decision, the company said the offer from IHH was chosen after considering all key parameters.
The offer is at 20 per cent premium to the current market price.
“(IHH) offers significant deal certainty given a simpler transaction structure and requirement for fewer approvals and a shorter time-frame and exit opportunity for shareholders given the open offer, in case they desire,” Fortis said.
It also “offers potential to achieve scale driven synergies on operational and financing front and integrates Fortis into a large global healthcare platform with potential synergies”.
Fortis Healthcare Chairman Ravi Rajagopal said: “The IHH proposal offers a more strategically and financially compelling proposition along with simplicity and certainty.
“The process was relaunched on May 29 and has been conducted in a fair, time-bound and transparent manner.”
Following the launch of the new transaction process, Fortis had received bids of four suitors — Hero Enterprise Investment Office and Burman Family Office, IHH Healthcare Berhand, Radiant Life Care and TPG Asia and Manipal Health Enterprises.
However, the Hero Enterprise-Burman Family combine, which had earlier become the preferred bidder, and Radiant Life Care withdrew their bid offers.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Putrajaya (Malaysia) : Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday that he will not give in easily just because there were demands from India to extradite controversial Muslim preacher Zakir Naik.
Mohamad said his government would always ensure that it looked into all factors before responding to any such demand. “Otherwise, someone will become a victim,” the New Straits Times quoted him as saying.
“We do not easily follow the demands of others. We must look at all factors before we respond,” he said.
The Prime Minister was asked if some parties in his collation government wanted to expel the preacher, who is now a permanent resident of Malaysia and is wanted by the Indian government on charges of money-laundering and terror links.
The leader of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), Ramasamy Palanisamy, said that he suspected that there was some secret deal between Malaysia and India.
Mohamad last week said the cleric will not be handed over to Indian authorities as he had been granted permanent resident status in Malaysia.
He had said that Naik, who left India in 2016, would be allowed to stay in Malaysia as long as he did not create any problem.
However, the decision did not go down well with several groups, who insisted that the government return Naik to India following his alleged tendencies to make racial and religiously insensitive statements, the report said.
It was reported that New Delhi had made a formal request for Naik to be returned to India after accusing him of inciting youngsters to commit terror activities through hate speeches.
Naik has accused the Indian media of vilifying him over the past two years.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews, Muslim World
Malaysian former foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar
By Ayhan Simsek,
Colonge: Malaysia’s former foreign minister has slammed world powers for failing to stop Myanmar regime’s continued “ethnic cleansing policies” against Rohingya Muslims.
“Myanmar knows that they are protected by the members of the major powers, like China, like Russia,” Syed Hamid Albar said, in an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency.
“Nothing is done on Myanmar, so why should they stop all the atrocities? They feel that they can get away, scot-free, doing whatever they think is right to make sure that Myanmar becomes a pure Buddhist state,” he said.
Since Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, fled Myanmar when Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to the Amnesty International.
At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, according to Doctors Without Borders.
In a report published on Dec. 12, the global humanitarian organization said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.
Albar, who served as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) special envoy for Myanmar between 2014 and 2017, stressed that the regime forces committed crimes against humanity.
“There is consensus that there have been crimes against humanity, there is ethnic cleansing, there is genocide, this satisfies all the legal condition, and yet we cannot do anything,” he said.
Call for international pressure
Albar called for more international pressure on the regime to end its oppressive policies, and ensure the security of Rohingya people.
“We should try to influence and make sure that it is always on the global agenda, on the regional agenda, and also on the national agenda,” he said.
Albar has welcomed the recent visit of a delegation from the UN Security Council to Myanmar, but he voiced disappointment at the outcome of the talks with the Myanmar authorities.
“They say that they will help Myanmar to investigate. Myanmar is the perpetrator of the crime. How can you want Myanmar to investigate, it must be an independent body,” he stressed.
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings — including of infants and young children — brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
Albar proposed deploying a UN force in Rakhine to ensure that Rohingya people can live in a safe area, without fear from new atrocities.
He said Rohingya refugees, who fled to neighbouring countries, should be able to return to their homeland if they voluntarily want to. He underlined that Myanmar should grant them full citizenship rights.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
Shabana Azmi
Mumbai : Veteran actress and social activist Shabana Azmi will be felicitated by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak at a business leaders’ conclave here.
Shabana tweeted: “Off to Kuala Lumpur for The Economic Times Asian Business Leaders Conclave where I’m being felicitated by Prime Minister of Malaysia. Honoured.”
The actress, 67, left for the event on Tuesday evening. The conclave is slated for Wednesday and Thursday.
On the acting front, Shabana was last seen on the silver screen in “The Black Prince”, where she essayed the role of Maharani Jind Kaur.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Halal Food, Halal Industries, Muslim World
Dubai : Malaysia has recognized the control system for halal food of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as the latter’s national certificates and national halal mark.
Halal food is identified as without pork or animal fat or blood, while halal beverages can never contain alcohol. In order to get a halal certificate, the food must be guaranteed by qualified Islamic scholars, who can label the product as edible for Muslim consumers.
The Malaysian Department of Islamic Development, JAKIM, sent ESMA the official recognition certificate, after the UAE hosted a Malaysian delegation that reviewed the UAE Halal Control System Global Practices.
The recognition by the Southeast Asian state paves the way to facilitate the export of UAE halal products under the national brand and ensure their acceptance in Malaysian market, as well as 60 other markets that accept Malaysian halal certification.
“This UAE-led initiative, first of its kind in the Arab and Middle East world, will open up horizons to exporters in the country… especially for markets of East and Southeast Asia and the Australian continent,” said Abdullah Abdul Qader Al-Maeeni, Director-General of the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA).
According to official reports, bilateral trade between the UAE and Malaysia amounted to 6.1 billion U.S. dollars, last year.
UAE’s exports to Malaysia amounted to 3.59 billion dollars.
—NNN-WAM
