NMC Health PLC (LON:NMC), the under-fire Middle Eastern hospitals operator, has appointed a former US federal judge to look into allegations made against the company.
The FTSE 100 company has retained Louis Freeh, a former federal judge and Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) director, and his firm Freeh Group to examine and compile a report regarding allegations raised in the 17 December 2019 report from short-seller Muddy Waters and by certain other third parties.
READ: NMC Health falls out of bed again after independent review update
The Freeh Group is a global risk management firm specialising in the areas of business integrity and compliance, safety and security, and investigations and due diligence.
In its publicly disseminated report, US-based hedge fund Muddy Waters voiced concerns about NMC's financial statements and revealed it had a short position in the company.
NMC has refuted the allegations, including publishing details about the size and exact floor plans of one of its hospitals after Muddy Waters said development costs were “too high to be plausible”.
It also pledged to pursue “relevant legal and regulatory options” as it called the allegations an attempt “to mislead the market and manipulate the share price”.
NMC shares, which more than halved to below 1,200p last month, were up 7% to 1,544p on Friday morning.
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