Apollo Hospitals shelves plans to buy Wockhardt units
By IANSWednesday, June 17, 2009
KOLKATA - Apollo Hospitals has shelved plans to buy a “basket of hospitals” from Wockhardt, a senior company official said here Wednesday.
“There is a lot of synergy between us, but we have a responsibility towards our shareholders and investors,” Apollo Hospitals managing director Preetha Reddy told reporters.
“Valuation was done and what we felt was a fair valuation that would have been fine with our board, investors and shareholders, was really not what the hospital group (Wockhardt) was looking at,” she added.
Additionally, Reddy said, the geographic locations offered by Wockhardt did not meet Apollo’s criteria.
“They offered us hospitals in Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. But our footprint is also very strong in these regions. That’s why it would have not been prudent for us to go and buy hospitals in these regions again,” she said.
Apollo has undertaken a Rs.12-billion expansion this fiscal and plans to add 1,800 beds across hospitals, besides upgrading equipment and technology.
“By and large, we will go for only greenfield hospitals,” Reddy said.
