The Hindu Business Line : Ansal Properties signs pact with Malaysia's Faber Group

JOINING HANDS: Mr Sushil Ansal, Chairman, Ansal Properties Group, with Mr Duto Anwar Bin Aji, Chairman, Faber Group Berhad, Malaysia at a press conference in the Capital on Wednesday. - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , March 22

Real estate developer Ansal Properties Group today announced a joint venture with Malaysia-based facilities management company Faber Group Berhad for foraying into healthcare facilities management.

The new company `Faber Star Facilities Management' would offer services including bio medical engineering management, wellness support services, clinical wastage management and cleaning and janitorial services. The company is expected to commence operations from May and aims at achieving a turnover of Rs 100 crore in the next 3-5 years.

As per the agreement, Faber Group would hold 51 per cent stake in the new company, while Ansal and its affiliate companies would hold the balance 49 per cent.

"We will be targeting Government hospitals as well as private hospitals for facilities management. We are already in discussions with various players for this," Mr Sushil Ansal, Chairman of Ansal Properties Group, said at a conference.

Faber Group is a facilities management major in Asia with expertise in healthcare support services. Faber Group manages over 75 hospitals in Malaysia.

Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd, the flagship company of the Ansal Properties Group, is considering raising funds to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore through a combination of public issue and private placement.

"We are open to both public issue and private placement combination. The public issue would take about four months," Mr Ansal said.

He said that the company was talking to some foreign players for the private placement, but declined to give details. The money thus raised would be utilised for the company's projects, he said. "We have about Rs 15,000 crore worth of projects in hand to be implemented over the next few years, and we also plan to add new projects to this list. We will be going for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) projects too, as it is the next area of growth," he said.

Mr Anil Kumar, Director of APIL, said that the company's promoters intend to retain at least 51-52 per cent stake after the fund raising exercise.