Axis, IDBI Bank led consortium to fund Fortis' Parkway buy

A consortium of banks, comprising the country's third largest private sector lender Axis Bank and state-run IDBI Bank have committed to part finance the $2.3 billion counter-offer of Fortis Health care to acquire Singapore's Parkway Holdings.

The consortium, in which Axis Bank and IDBI Bank are among the lead arrangers, could expand its size to 10-12 banks participating lenders from both India and abroad. Other banks in the consortium include country's largest lender, State Bank and ICICI Bank, a source close to the development told PTI in Mumbai.

Although the participating banks are yet to workout the modality of financing, it is likely that initial funding will be done through a short-term Rupee-US dollar loan carrying 6-12 months maturity but after this, Fortis may arrange long-term funding, the source said.

While the exact amount individual banks would contribute could not be immediately ascertained, it is understood that IDBI Bank is keen to contribute atleast 10-20% to the total loan amount.

"The Singapore regulator has asked Fortis to prove its capability to fund the deal. They (Fortis) are just keeping the money ready to fund the deal if it goes through. The loan will be a mix of the Indian rupee and the US dollar," the source said.

Recently, Fortis made a counter-bid to buy out the remaining stake in the Singapore-listed hospital chain, challenging the bid of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanahs to acquire the firm.

According to sources, a clarity on the chances of Fortis winning the bid could emerge over the next two weeks.

The source said that Fortis is looking at to avail bankloans of atleast $1-1.5 billion out of the total acquisition amount.

"They may be looking at $1-1.5 billion as bank loan but there is a chance that the amount could be even bigger," the source said.

Fortis, owned by billionaire brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, own 25.3% of Parkway. The general offer to acquire all the shares of Parkway was made at SG$3.8 per unit as against the SG$3.7 per share offer made by Khazanah's arm, International Healthcare Holdings Ltd, in May.

Khazanah had made a $835 million partial offer to acquire a 27$ additional stake to take its holding in Parkway to 51.5%.

In response, Fortis, which was given time till the end of this month by the Singapore Industries Commission (SIC) to make a counter-offer, said it will acquire all the outstanding shares of Parkway.

Indian banks such as State Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and IDBI Bank are keen to grow their presence in financing India-related merges and acquisition deals and thus to grow their presence in the international banking landscape.