DUBAI (Reuters) – Troubled hospital operator NMC Health <NMC.L> said on Monday it requested its shares be delisted from the London Stock Exchange after they were suspended two months ago.
Shares in the UAE-based company were suspended two months ago and it was placed into administration this month following an application form one of the company’s biggest lenders, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank <ADCB.AD>.
That move followed NMC revising its debt position to $6.6 billion, well above earlier estimates.
“We are working at pace to ensure continuity of patient care, stability for staff and suppliers and financial security for NMC’s operating companies,” Richard Fleming, joint administrator of NMC Health and managing director of Alvarez & Marsal, said in a statement on NMC’s behalf.
“Delisting shares in NMC Health is the logical next step, given the situation we have inherited.”
NMC, which has also faced troubles over the shareholdings of its top investors, was booted from the UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index <.FTSE> last week.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank said this month that it had begun criminal proceedings in Abu Dhabi against an unspecified number of individuals in relation to NMC.
NMC is the largest private healthcare provider in the UAE but came under scrutiny late last year when U.S.-based short-seller Muddy Waters criticised its financial statements.
BR Shetty, who founded the company in the mid-1970s, resigned as non-executive chairman and board member in February and said this month he was conducting his own investigations.
The company’s lenders and administrators are now in talks over NMC’s debt pile.
(Reporting by Shanima A in Bengaluru and Yousef Saba in Dubai; editing by Jason Neely)
