Pantai Holdings in for windfall if hospitals put into a REIT

Malay Mail Online: "PANTAI Holdings Bhd, the country’s leading high-end healthcare provider, could unlock as much as RM500 million in cash if it places the six hospitals it owns into a REIT, JP Morgan said in a research report."The report had helped Pantai shares gain since it was released last Wednesday, boosting its market capitalisation by some RM67 million to RM556.82 million. That helped the stock close at RM1.33 a share, its highest closing in more than three years.
A day after the report came out five million Pantai shares was traded in an off market married transaction in a deal valued at RM5.75 million or RM1.15 a share. A married deal is an off market transaction between a buyer and seller from the same broking house.
This is the first time JP Morgan is covering Pantai, a sign which rival firms say, could be because the company could be the centre of fresh corporate development.
The JP Morgan report came, just a day before Pantai informed Bursa Malaysia that it has returned to profitability, notching a net profit of RM43.55 million for the year ended June 30 2005, from a loss of RM112.68 million in the same period a year ago.
The JP Morgan report also mentioned briefly that Singapore’s Temasek and Khazanah Nasional are showing interest in the regional healthcare sector, and possibility of industry wide consolidation, which should be positive for Pantai.