NMC Health requests delisting from LSE

NMC share value had fallen by around 70 per cent between December 16.

NMC Health said on Monday that it had asked for delisting its shares from the London Stock Exchange.
The request for delisting comes close on the heels of the embattled company being ousted from the prestigious FTSE-100 blue-chip index by FTSE Russell effective Monday. The formal request for delisting came two months after NMC shares were suspended on LSE.
The healthcare provider, which has been crumbling under the burden of snowballing debts totalling $6.6 billion amid scandals of financial irregularities and allegations of fraud and forgery against major shareholders, was placed into administration this month following an application form one of the company's biggest lenders, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank which has an exposure of Dh3 billion.
"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 share value had fallen by around 70 per cent between December 16 and February-end subsequent to US short-seller Muddy Waters' revelations about the company's management and financial position.
The shares were suspended from trading on February 27 as the UK's Financial Conduct Authority launched an enforcement investigation.
The company, which listed in London in 2012, once had a market capitalisation over £8 billion. NMC Health was placed into administration by a UK court on April. It has debts of around Dh8 billion to UAE banks alone.- issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com