Faber Group Bhd managing director Adnan Mohammad declined to confirm nor deny speculation that it may be buying Pantai Holdings Bhd?s Malaysian government concession business.

However, he said: ?We do meet up but it?s purely on operational side as we exchanged notes on our performance and discuss how to deal with the government on the concession extension matter,? he said, without elaborating.

Nonetheless, Faber Group was ?pursuing several merger and acquisition (M&A) activities?. It could be from other services industry such as facility engineering and biomedical. These are the players that we are trying to bring onboard.

Pantai, owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Singapore?s Parkway Group, holds a long-term contract to provide services to public hospitals in three states as well as the concession for foreign worker health checks.

Pantai owns two 15-year concessions ending in 2012 via Fomema and Pantai Medivest. Fomema holds the monopoly to conduct mandatory medical check-ups on foreign workers while Pantai Medivest has the sole right to provide support services to all hospitals and government clinics in Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor.

It has been reported that Pantai group is planning to sell its Malaysian government concession businesses as it seeks to focus on growing its hospital division.

Response From Pantai ?

Pantai Holdings Bhd does not rule out selling its concession business 'if the price is right', said its chairman Tan Sri Mohamed Khatib Abdul Hamid.

While Pantai delivered quality services in both its concessions, the idea of selling them in the near future could not be ruled out.

However, he dismissed speculation of a possible merger between its concession business Pantai Mediwest Sdn Bhd and Faber Group?s Faber Medi-Serve Sdn Bhd.

No, people are thinking that direction because both companies (Pantai and Faber) belong to Khazanah Nasional Bhd,' said Pantai chairman 'Why should we merge if we belong to the same parent?' he said.

Pantai is wholly-owned by Pantai Irama Venture Sdn Bhd, which is 60%- and 40%-owned by Khazanah and Singapore-listed healthcare group Parkway Holdings Ltd respectively. Khazanah also holds a 24% stake in Parkway. Faber is 34.5%-owned by Khazanah through UEM Group Bhd.

Besides Pantai Mediwest, which provides support services to hospitals in the southern peninsula, Pantai also wholly owns Fomema Sdn Bhd, whose role is to implement, manage and supervise nationwide mandatory health screening programme for all legal foreign workers in Malaysia.