RHT Health Trust manager advises unitholders to adjourn Dec 3 EGM on winding-up action

Singapore

THE trustee-manager of mainboard-listed RHT Health Trust is proposing to adjourn an upcoming extraordinary general meeting (EGM) meant to seek unitholders' approval for a voluntary winding-up.

It will be in the interests of unitholders to adjourn the EGM until RHT can decide whether and how the proposed winding-up action may proceed, the trustee-manager said in a filing on Thursday.

The EGM is scheduled for Dec 3 at 10am at Temasek Club.

The announcement comes after India's Supreme Court on Nov 15 held Fortis Healthcare's founders - Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh - guilty for contempt of court.

Fortis had purchased RHT's entire portfolio of healthcare assets in January this year. The Supreme Court judgment also stated that it is, prima facie, of the view that the disposal of RHT's portfolio and other transactions were in wilful disobedience of the court's order on Dec 14, 2018.

As such, RHT's Indian legal counsel advised the trustee-manager not to proceed with the winding-up, the EGM and the distributions to unitholders that were referred to in the circular.

Otherwise, it may be viewed as being in defiance of the court, which will expose RHT to the risk of being made an alleged contemnor under the contempt proceedings, the trust said on Thursday.

Fortis also wrote to RHT's trustee-manager on Monday, saying that "it would be imperative" for the winding-up action not to proceed.

Fortis requested that the EGM be adjourned until either the Supreme Court has specifically allowed for the winding-up process to proceed or the court has disposed of the contempt proceedings.

The disposal of RHT's entire portfolio to Fortis included its interests in 12 clinical establishments, four greenfield clinical establishments and two operating hospitals in India.

RHT received 46.8 billion rupees (S$895.6 million) in adjusted gross consideration for the sale.

If a quorum is present at the EGM on Dec 3, the chairman of the meeting will seek unitholders' consent to adjourn it until a later date to be determined by the trustee-manager.

However, if the adjournment is not approved by a simple majority of unitholders present and voting, the EGM will proceed as planned and the extraordinary resolution for the winding-up will be proposed to the unitholders for approval.

RHT suspended trading in its units on Thursday, after calling for a trading halt on Monday. RHT last traded at 1.9 Singapore cents on Nov 22.

The court hearing for the contempt proceedings will start on Feb 3, 2020.