'We will be working with the existing team of Wockhardt with Vishal Bali as the chief executive officer,' said Shivinder M. Singh, chief executive and managing director of Fortis Hospitals.

The acquisition will enable Fortis to expand its footprint in the southern cities, and attain planned set-up of 40 hospitals and add 6,000 beds by 2012, Singh said.

Fortis, which started its first hospital in 2001, has a network of 28 hospitals with a capacity of 3,300 beds.

Currently, most of the group's hospitals are located in north Indian cities.