KUALA LUMPUR, 6 January 2009 - Sime Darby Berhad today announced that it would not pursue a plan to enter into a partnership with Institut Jantung Negara (IJN).

The diversified multinational said that it reached this decision after taking into consideration the public sentiment and feedback received since the government announced that it had deferred its decision to allow Sime Darby to begin negotiations with Ministry of Finance on taking a 51 per cent stake in IJN.

Dato’ Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid, the President and Group Chief Executive said: "We believe that continued investment in cardiovascular care is critical because it is a leading cause for hospital admissions and one of the major causes of deaths in Malaysia. A partnership with IJN would have been a winning proposition for us, IJN, stakeholders and the public and it was on this basis that we approached the government on a possible partnership with IJN.''

"But we are a company whose shareholders represent more than 10 million Malaysians and we have to respect the wishes of the rakyat for IJN to remain in its present structure."

Sime Darby said that it wrote to the government in August expressing interest in a partnership that would be mutually beneficial in extending the scope and scale of operations of Sime Darby Healthcare and IJN.

Such a partnership would have brought together IJN's leadership in cardiovascular and thoracic care and Sime Darby Healthcare's expertise in private tertiary care. Sime Darby Healthcare's plan was to set up centres of excellence in various medical fields, such as cancer, heart and neurology, in Malaysia and overseas.

In developing its proposal to the government, Sime Darby was well aware of IJN's role in providing excellent and affordable medical treatment, particularly to pensioners, low income earners and the poor. The cornerstone of the proposal was aimed at ensuring that the Rakyat would not be deprived of top class medical care and included a guarantee that poor patients, pensioners and those from the lower and middle income groups would continue to enjoy excellent medical treatment without change to the status quo.

It has always been Sime Darby's intention in this project to take into the consideration the welfare and the interest of the less privileged, an approach which is in line with the company's philosophy on social responsibility.

Based on this proposal and assurance, the government gave Sime Darby the green light to conduct due diligence on IJN and put together a comprehensive business plan. This plan would have had to be endorsed by the Ministry of Finance before Sime Darby would be allowed to take up a stake in IJN.

Dato’ Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid said that he remained upbeat about the prospects of the healthcare sector and would continue to look for opportunities for expansion and to turn Sime Darby Healthcare into a gold standard healthcare provider in the region.

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