Mumbai: Fortis Healthcare said it is a “complete stranger” to the underlying dispute between Japanese pharmaceutical giant Daiichi Sankyo and the Singh Brothers, and expressed confidence it would come out clean, after the Supreme Court cleared the way for a forensic audit of the healthcare major.
In a regulatory filing in response to the Supreme Court’s order, Fortis said “it is a complete stranger to the underlying dispute between Daiichi Sankyo and the Singh Brothers, and accordingly was never a party to the arbitration proceedings between them, and is neither a judgment debtor nor a garnishee in respect of Daiichi Sankyo’s decree.”
It added that “being a public listed company, it had no power or ability to control the transfer of shares by its erstwhile promoters, who were the owners of such shares, and Fortis received no monies or proceeds on account of the dissipation of the erstwhile promoters’ shareholding.”
Defending its position, Fortis said the firm’s institutional shareholders came together to appoint independent directors to its board after the Singh Brothers resigned from the Board of Directors by March 2018.
According to Fortis, in June 2018, this independent Board with the guidance of investment bankers and legal advisors, undertook a competitive bidding process to identify and induct a new investor in the Company.
The healthcare major said the investment by the Company’s current promoter shareholder Northern TK Venture Pte. Ltd., a part of the IHH Healthcare Berhad group, was undertaken through a fresh issuance of equity shares upon receipt of all statutory and regulatory approvals including from the CCI, SEBI, the stock exchanges and the Company’s shareholders in November 2018
It noted that this was several months after the Singh Brothers had ceased to have any relationship with the Company, and did not involve any transfer of shares from them.
The long drawn dispute has put Fortis and its subsequent association with Malaysian group IHH Healthcare under the scanner.
The top court’s latest order clearing a forensic audit of the healthcare major marks a significant step in Daiichi Sankyo’s continuing effort to enforce the arbitral award, and could carry wider implications for how such awards are enforced.
