New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) Malaysian firm IHH Healthcare on Monday reiterated its intent to continue on its growth plans for Fortis Healthcare, and said growing in India remains a priority for the company.

The group had acquired a 31 per cent controlling stake in Fortis in 2018, which triggered a mandatory open offer to acquire another 26 per cent of Fortis shares from the market.

The open offer has not proceeded due to ongoing legal proceedings with respect to the transaction pending before the Supreme Court where the next hearing is scheduled for February 10, 2021, IHH Healthcare said in a statement.

"Growing in India remains a priority for IHH as it is one of our four home markets, together with Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey," IHH Healthcare MD and CEO Kelvin Loh said.

He added that the company respects and has full faith in the judicial process in India and looks forward to a favourable outcome so the firm can proceed with the open offer. "This will allow IHH to further invest into Fortis to provide even more support to the Indian healthcare sector, especially in critical times like now with COVID-19." PTI AKT HRS hrs

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)