NMC Health PLC’s (LON:NMC) executive vice chairman, who has close links to the founder, has resigned from the embattled hospital operator.
Khalifa Butti Omeir Bin Yousef, also known as Khalifa Butti al-Muhairi, has resigned with immediate effect, the company said on Friday.
READ: NMC Health confirms approaches but ownership waters muddied
He and fellow director Saeed Mohamed al-Qebaisi, also known as Saeed Bin Butti Al Qebaisi, in January were forced to sell a combined £375mln worth of shares in the company to meet margin calls after the shares were battered in the wake of an attack by short-seller Muddy Waters.
On Monday this week, the waters were muddied further as the Abu Dhabi-headquartered company revealed that it was not clear how many shares exactly were owned by Khalifa Butti, Saeed Bin Butti and founder and current joint-chairman Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty.
A “legal review” carried out by Shetty and his advisers to verify his and his family’s interests had found that the exact size of the shareholdings of the trio had been “incorrectly reported historically to the company and the market”.
The Financial Conduct Authority said it was “aware of the situation” and it was “making enquiries with the relevant parties”.
Also on Monday the company said it had received two “highly preliminary” approaches from US private equity groups.
But just a day later, KKR, the better-known of the two, said it had “not made a proposal nor discussed the terms of any possible offer” and that it did not intend to make a bid.
The other bid was from a little-known firm, GK Investment Holding, which was later confirmed to be backed by sponsors of Italian private hospital group, Gruppo San Donato (GSD).