Tycoons gamble away their wealth worth INR 22,000 crores.

Fall of Fortis’ empire

ET Prime reports that entering the real estate sector, was the reason for downfall of Singh brothers.

A brief timeline:

• 2006: IPO of Religare. Singh brothers sold 16.4% of shares to Dhillon’s ( Radha Somi Satsang Beas’ headman) two sons at par. At a price of INR 525/ share, their stake was worth INR 600 crores.
• 2008: Brothers sold Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo for INR 10,000 crores or $ 2bn then/ $ 3.2bn now or INR 22000 crores.
• 2008: Set up RHC Holdings. Acquisitions worth 5400 crores ( Hichens Harrison, Lotus Mutual Fund, Northgate LLC, Parkway Holdings and Wockhardt Hospitals).
• 2009: Entered the real estate business with two firms; GYS and Prius. Firms got several unsecured loans.
• 2011: Religare Health Trust was founded in 2011. It acted as a holding company for Fortis Healthcare. It was headed by elder brother Malvinder Singh.
• 2013–2016: Siphoning of funds and mismanagement of deposits took place. Sunil Godhwani stepped down as CMD of Religare, after the mess came out in the open. Real estate downturn and demonetization worsened things.
• 2017: RBI points out the mismanagement. Liquidity thinned down.
• 2018: Debt ballooned to INR 20,000 crores ( approx). Fortis is sold to IHH of Malaysia. Younger brother Shivinder files the case against elder brother Malvinder and Sunil Godhwani.
• Conclusion: Singh brothers lost multi billion dollar businesses. Babaji and his family have amassed wealth and real estate worth crores ( got loans worth INR 2700 crores). So, the most profitable business in India is acquring wealth via becoming Babaji. Ask Ramdev.

Dig deeper:

• How the Singh brothers became victims of a realty play?. ET Prime ( free)
• A brief history of success of Ranbaxy. Business Standard
• Why Fortis was sold? Bloomberg Quint
• Watch how they blew $ 3.2bn within a decade. Business Today