Review on to pin down Shetty's shareholding



By Justin George Varghese, Staff Reporter



Dr. B. R. Shetty said a "legal review" is being carried out to verify stakes that belong to him, his family members and their holding companies in NMC Health.

This suggests that the holdings of NMC’s top shareholders - Shetty as well as those belonging to Saeed Bin Butti and Khaleefa Bin Butti - have been "incorrectly reported historically", NMC said.

NMC has asked BR Shetty and Khaleefa Butti to absent themselves from further board discussions until clarification of these matters - and pending a Board of Directors' decision about their ongoing roles at the company.

This comes after two of Saeed Bin Butti and Khalifa Bin Butti sold stakes worth 375 million pounds ($491 million) at a huge discount in order to cover debts linked to the shares.

The well-known Abu Dhabi investors - officially known as Saeed Mohamed Al Qebaisi and Khalifa Butti Al Muhairi - "sold" a combined 15 per cent stake in the UAE’s largest private healthcare provider at 12 pounds a share, a discount of a fifth to where the shares were trading on Tuesday.

It is not known who has since acquired these shares. NMC has not made any official statement in this regard to date.

Meanwhile, another Shetty owned vehicle, Finablr, said in a statement that a committee of independent directors are reviewing the alleged arrangements between Shetty and the shareholders in the payments firm, which is also co-chaired by the Indian billionaire.

NMC Health investors, which were earlier caught off-guard when the two key shareholders sold a chunk of their holdings – triggering a steep sell-off, cheered the latest announcements.

NMC shares were up 8.86 per cent in early trading Monday.



December turmoil

NMC, which has been has been undergoing a review of its accounts, saw its London-listed shares more than halve in mid-December after the hedge fund announced that it had a bet against the stock.

The shares gained some reprieve after the company announced an independent review of its books, but still ended the year down around 34 per cent.

Though NMC did confirm some aspects of Muddy Waters’ characterization of its debt - notably that it uses "reverse factoring" which is reported in trade payables and uses extensive overdrafts - the firm dismissed the report as a whole as “false and misleading”.