Lender’s court bid tips NMC towards collapse

a MaJOr lender to troubled NMC Health has filed to have the company put into administration.

abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (aDCB), which is owed more than £780m by the London-listed private hospital group, applied to the High Court last week to have administrators appointed.

NMC, which recently revealed it had almost three times more debt than it thought after uncovering a string of secret transactions, is fighting to avoid administration.

It said it was in discussions with aDCB and other lenders to have the application withdrawn.

But if aDCB does not step back, NMC could slip into administration on Thursday when a judge decides on the filing.

after short-selling US hedge fund Muddy Waters released a damning dossier into NMC’s corporate governance and financial health last year, the Gulf-based private hospital firm made a series of worrying discoveries. It found that its debt pile, which had previously been reported at around £1.7bn, was actually more like £5bn. around 80 different financial institutions are believed to be lending money to NMC Health, though aDCB is thought to be the largest single creditor.

NMC’s new executive chairman Faisal Belhoul – appointed at the end of March – is asking creditors to sign a standstill agreement, meaning the firm will not have to make any repayments until it has had time to get a grip on its finances.

NMC’s founder and co-chairman Br Shetty, co- chairman HJ Mark Tompkins, chief executive Prasanth Manghat and chief financial officer Prashanth Shenoy have all left in recent weeks.