Abu Dhabi, Feb 17: NMC Health Plc, a hospital operator targeted by short-seller Muddy Waters, said founder Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty resigned amid investor concern he faced a margin call and misrepresented his stake.
The board asked for Co-Chairman Shetty’s resignation and it takes effect immediately, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. NMC has lost four board members since Friday, including Vice Chairman Khaleefa Butti, whose holdings are also being probed. The stock, the worst performer on the FTSE-100 Index this year, fell as much as 9.2 percent Monday morning and then rebounded.
“The resignation of senior board members should be viewed positively,” said Abdulla Nahlawi, an analyst at Rasmala Investment Bank in Dubai. “The credibility of the current board has been jeopardized with the unfolding of the recent events.”
NMC shares lost almost half their value the first week of February on speculation the company’s main investors faced a margin call, in which banks seize shares pledged as collateral. NMC said Friday that First Abu Dhabi Bank and Al Salam Bank Bahrain obtained 20 million shares in the company from BRS International Holding, an investment vehicle of NMC’s top shareholders. The banks sold more than 8 million of those shares as “enforcement of security,” NMC said.
NMC operates the largest medical network in the United Arab Emirates and in 2012 became the first Abu Dhabi company to list in London. The shares started teetering in mid-December when Muddy Waters alleged that NMC manipulated its balance sheet and inflated the prices of companies it acquired.
Shetty, 77, was born in India and founded NMC in the 1970s after moving to Abu Dhabi. His spokesman said a legal review of the situation is ongoing and declined further comment.
Chief Investment Officer Hani Buttikhi and board member Abdulrahman Basaddiq also stepped down because they were appointees of Shetty and Butti, NMC said, adding that they had no knowledge of the share transfers.
Questions remain over the role of Shetty’s family at the company. His wife and son-in-law both hold roles in senior management.
Almost 10 per cent of NMC’s freely traded shares are shorted, according to Markit Securities data. In mid-December about a third of them were.
Last week GKSD Investment, an investment company backed by hospital investors, said it’s studying a possible offer for NMC. Under U.K. takeover rules, it has until March 9 to make a bid.
NMC has said Muddy Waters’s claims are false and the company hired former FBI Director Louis Freeh to conduct an independent review. The review is due to be completed before the company issues its financial results in March, the person said.
NMC said Mark Tompkins will continue as the company’s sole chairman.
Comments
If india gives him same punishment then assume that india is developed, in india criminals are given more respect than the victims.
Insane person. why dont you give him similar punishment....
Leave Bihar Campaign :)
Is controlling criminals important or fighting against Modi important? Nitish and KC Tyagi, please tell us
Shameless act from a political goonda. BTW had it been a BJP politician's son, CD would have had BJP in the headline. No I am not condoning the act if it was a BJP politician's son involved, I am just talking about how biased this channel is.
if the leader in the SUV was a BJP leader, your headline would have screamed the word BJP. Bajrangi RSS etc!
That politician's son is going to be get caught and will soon be released without facing any punishment.
that's how it happens in India!!!
in case of BJP politician, headline would have been ' BJP politician shoots 19 year old boy'. Since crime is committed by a non BJP politician, it only says politician in hearing.
This how the journalists manipulate the news.
Biharis Deserves... who voted corrupt Goonda Rajya
CM Nithish Kumar is in Kerala, he want the Kerala to be made same like Bihar.
Nitish Kumar is busy trying to cobble up a coalition in his desperate attempt to become the PM of this country. Meanwhile, the state is ruled by Lalu and his sons. So the jungle raj continues in Bihar.
its time to make bihar, up, wb ,delhi and kerala as independent nations. kick all these aholes from rest of india, let them solve their civility issue themselves.
gutter people
THERE IS TOTAL JUNGLE RAJ PREVAILING IN BIHAR SINCE LAST 25 YEARS DURING RJD- JD(U) MISRULE. NITISH KUMAR IS RUNNING GOVT WITH HELP OF CORRUPT MEDIAS WHO ARE GETTING HUGE MONEY I.E. HUNDREDS OF CRORES PER ANNUM FROM JD(U) GOVT FOR FLASHING ROSY PICTURE OF CORRUPT AND WORST NITISH GOVT. LALOO HAS RETURNED REIGN OF TERROR IN STATE WHERE HIS COMMUNITY IS INDULGED IN MASS ANTI-NATIONAL ACTIVITIES LIKE NAXALISM, MURDERS, DACOITIES, KIDNAPPING ETC. THIS IS BEYOND CAPACITY OF CM TO CONTROL IT. SO PEOPLE OF BIHAR IS BOUND TO SUFFER FOR ELECTING CORRUPT AND WORST PERFORMING GOVT WHEN THERE WILL BE NO PEACE AND PROSPERITY.
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