The group, however, clarified in a Bursa Malaysia filing today that at this stage there is still no confirmation that a transaction will take place.

Sime Darby said it will make the necessary announcement to the local bourse once the group has a concrete corporate proposal.

Trading of the stock was temporarily suspended at 9am this morning in anticipation of the announcement, and resumed at 10am.

On March 29, Sime Darby said it was still undecided on whether to divest its Asia-focused healthcare joint venture with Ramsay.

The statement was made following a Reuters report which claimed the two parties were planning to revive the sale of Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care.

In March last year, IHH Healthcare Bhd had submitted a non-binding indicative proposal to acquire Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care from the two groups for RM5.67 billion.

However, talks on the proposed acquisition broke down on Sept 9, 2022.

As at 11.12am, Sime Darby’s share price was up two sen or 0.98% higher at RM 2.07, giving it a market capitalisation of RM14.1 billion.