A load of crap from an idle brainPersonal, Movies, Music, IT, India, Singapore, Politics, Fun

Indian hospital chain Fortis Healthcare will buy 23.9 percent of Singapore’s Parkway Holdings  from U.S. buyout firm TPG Capital in an expansion drive into Asia and the Middle East.

The $685 million deal will give Fortis a foothold in Singapore and Malaysia and make it the biggest private hospital network in Asia, it said.

The move continues an overseas acquisition push by Indian companies looking for new markets and know-how. Top Indian mobile carrier Bharti Airtel is in talks to buy the African operations of Kuwait’s Zain for $9 billion.

Fortis intends to move into other parts of Asia and the Middle East, Chairman Malvinder Mohan Singh told reporters.

“Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are markets we would like to evaluate,” Singh told Reuters in Singapore.

Fortis has no immediate plans to raise its stake in Parkway and planned to work with the Singapore firm in expanding across the region, added Singh, who will be nominated Parkway chairman.

Fortis will be the largest shareholder in Parkway, with a stake slightly higher than the 23.32 percent held by Malaysian state fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, according to Parkway’s website.

Fortis’ purchase follows its $187 million acquisition in August of 10 hospitals from unlisted Wockhardt Hospitals.

“It makes more sense for Fortis to acquire a strategic stake in Parkway than to go for a full-fledged acquisition as it would mean lower risk as well as lower cost,” said Sapna Jhawar, a healthcare analyst with Mumbai-based Sharekhan.

Full news here

Above picture of Fortis hospital, Noida courtesy: Neytri

+++

Some great night pictures of the new Hyderabad Airport at Shamshabad from their website. Heck, the airport even has a theme song composed by none other than AR Rahman and lyrics by Prasoon Joshi (of Rang De Basanti fame).

The passenger services from the airport comprises of Nuance-Shoppers stop for duty free shopping, Cookie Man, Hard Rock Cafe, Cafe Coffee Day, HMS host, Tenaga Parking for parking in the airport, Plaza Premium Lounge, Novotel’s 300 room business hotel, Telecom by BSNL and Tata Indicom, foreign exchange by Weizman forex and Travelex, Apollo hospital’s clinic, ATM services by Axis bank, YES bank, Canara Bank, Kotak and Vijaya Bank, Landmark and Odyssey bookshops, Car rentals by Hertz and Budget Car rentals, Radio taxi by Easycabs, Thomas Cook, Hotel booking counters by Taj, Marriott and Novotel and a fuel station by Bharat Petroleum.

+++

It was an awesome sunday for Indian cricket. First the seniors beat the Aussies to go 1-0 up in the CB Series best of 3 finals. Then the India Under-19 team beat South Africa to lift the ICC World Cup.

Read here.

Above pictures courtesy: Cricinfo

+++

Features of the new Hyderabad airport

Cost: Rs 2478 crores (more than 500 million USD)

Initial passenger capacity: 12 million annually

Projected passenger capacity: 40 million annually

Runways: One (4260 meters or 4.26 kms)

Aircraft Bays: 42

Aerobridges: 12

Air Traffic Control Tower: 72 meters high

Departure level

Air Traffic Control Tower

Aerobridges

Fuel Farm

Trial runs commence

GMR’s personal aircraft on the tarmac during trials

The new Hyderabad airport is expected to receive its first commercial flight on 16 March 2008.

Above pictures courtesy: Ashok Srinath’s flickr, Skyscrapercity, Telugulo

+++

The great guys/gals at Singapore’s Changi airport have done it again. Lodged a complaint about my missing baggage at 9pm on 6th January. At 8am on 7th January, i got a call from the airport that they have found my luggage and will be sending it to my residence between 10am and 1pm.

The baggage is delivered at 9:45am itself. Much before the promised time. Now, that is called efficiency. I sincerely hope the people back home will some day at least reach upto 20% of the service that world class airports like Changi do.

By the looks of all the stickers on the bag, some smart alec in the Chennai airport had put my luggage into a flight destined for Colombo (Sri Lanka). So my bag made a trip from Chennai – Colombo – Singapore. The bag was still sealed, no contents lost. Compare this with my friend’s trip from California to Hyderabad.

He was carrying 2 watches for his parents. Someone nicked the watches and left the boxes intact inside the bag. A perfect example of the fence eating the crop. His trip was California – Taipei – Kuala Lumpur – Hyderabad.

+++