IHH sets stage for growth, integration as Fortis open offer closes

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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IHH Healthcare has completed a mandatory tender offer for Fortis Healthcare and Fortis Malar, taking its ownership stakes to 31.17 percent and 62.73 percent, respectively, the Singaporean-Malaysian hospital chain said on December 15. The long‑delayed move signals tighter integration in strengthening IHH’s pan-India platform.

Group chief executive officer Dr Prem Kumar Nair framed the milestone as a springboard for “accelerating innovation” and “deeper synergies” between Fortis Healthcare and Gleneagles Healthcare India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IHH Healthcare, which he said would unlock operating efficiencies while lifting care quality nationwide.

The operational integration is already in the works. In July, Fortis agreed to manage five of six Gleneagles hospitals under an operations and maintenance framework —expanding IHH’s ability to pool scale in procurement, talent and complex services without diluting brand autonomy.

The completion of the open offers — delayed for years amid litigation tied to the erstwhile Fortis promoters and Daiichi Sankyo — removes a long‑standing uncertainty for IHH’s India plans. Acceptance in the tender offers was “tepid” as market values outpaced offer prices, but the 31.17 percent and 62.73 percent post‑transaction stakes give IHH clearer strategic latitude.

For IHH, the integration of Fortis and Gleneagles can reduce duplicated overheads, drive shared clinical protocols and strengthen a unified referral and transfer network for complex cases, where average revenue per occupied bed (ARPOB) typically trends higher.

IHH’s India footprint spans 35 hospitals and 5,000 beds in 11 states. The group aims to add 2,000 beds by 2028, taking capacity to 7,000 beds as tertiary and quaternary care demand deepens.

Fortis lists 33 facilities and 5,700 operational beds (including O&M) with 400 diagnostics labs via Agilus, underlining the scale available to IHH for network optimisation and referral pathways.

IHH’s corporate site similarly highlights 27 Fortis hospitals and six Gleneagles hospitals as the backbone of its India presence, with diversified specialties from oncology to organ transplants.

India’s private hospital arms race is accelerating. Max Healthcare plans to invest Rs 6,000 crore and add 3,700 beds by 2028, taking its network toward 30 hospitals, with fresh capacity already opening in Delhi‑NCR and scheduled for Mohali, Mumbai and Saket.

Apollo Hospitals, the largest private player by beds, has a Rs 8,000 crore programme to add more than 4,300 beds over five years, with a heavy pipeline in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Kolkata and Delhi‑NCR, and 2,000 beds slated to turn operational this fiscal.

Capacity additions by top chains suggest a structurally tighter market for clinical talent and higher‑end equipment yet also greater density for complex care and medical tourism.

Analysts pegged India’s hospital market at $136.6 billion in 2024, with growth expected at 7.6 percent CAGR through 2033, helped by tier‑2 and 3 expansion and medical tourism.