Khazanah Nasional Bhd is tight lipped on speculation that it is planning to raise up to US$2 billion (RM6.3 billion) by selling shares in Parkway Pantai Ltd.
 
Reports have indicated that merchant banks had been asked to submit their proposal by today for the listing exercise.

"We won't comment on any market speculation," Khazanah spokesperson Mohd Asuki Abas said yesterday.

Khazanah owns 70 per cent of Integrated Healthcare Holdings Sdn Bhd, which in turn owns 100 per cent of Parkway Pantai.

A US$2 billion listing on Bursa Malaysia would make it the biggest initial public offering (IPO) since Petronas Chemical Bhd's RM12.8 billion IPO in November last year.

Last month, Parkway Pantai chairman Datuk Mohammed Azlan Hashim was reported as saying that it was looking to relist, just a year after being taken private.

Nevertheless, it is understood that a decision on the IPO exercise will only be made after its talks to acquire a Turkish hospital chain is completed.

A Bloomberg report yesterday said that the company was in advanced talk to buy a majority stake in Turkey's Acibadem Saglik Hizmetleri & Ticaret AS for US$1 billion (RM3.15 billion) and that a deal could be reached by as early as next month.

Parkway Pantai, which employs about 13,700 people, is planning eight more hospitals in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, according to its presentation last month. (Business Times - NST)