NMC Health says debt up $1.6bn, finds $50m in undisclosed cheques
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Tuesday 24 Mar 2020
(Sharecast News) - Troubled Gulf hospital operator NMC Health revealed its debts had now increased to $6.6bn from $5bn and investigations had discovered $50m in cheques written as security on loans for unnamed "third parties".
It also announced that chief financial officer Prasanth Shenoy had resigned with immediate effect after being on sick leave and former PwC partner Matthew J Wilde appointed as restructuring officer.
NMC, founded by Indian billionaire BR Shetty, said in the last fortnight it had found another $300m in loans which were known to the board last June; $800m of newly identified facilities undisclosed as at that time and and unapproved by the board; and an additional $400m of facilities entered into after June 2019 and unidentified on March 10.
NMC said it was working with its advisers "to understand the exact nature and quantum of the undisclosed facilities, including the circumstances in which they were obtained".
"The board believes that some of proceeds may have been utilised for non-group purposes and work is commencing on a project to trace such proceeds with a view to considering what actions may be available to the group to recover such monies."
The additional debt includes a $360m convertible bond and a $400m sukuk, an Islamic financial certificate similar to a bond, NMC said.
"The group's bilateral and syndicated debt obligations are comprised of over 75 debt facilities from over 80 financial institutions," NMC said in a statement. "Work on verifying the outstanding debt obligations is continuing."
The company earlier in March said that in addition to the $2.1bn group debt reported at 30 June 2019, it has identified more than $2.7bn in facilities that had previously not been disclosed to or approved by the board, taking its total debt to around $5bn.
Shetty quit as joint-chairman along with Khalifa Bin Butti as executive vice-chairman after questions emerged over the precise size of stakes held by the founders and other major shareholders.
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