PETALING JAYA: Great Eastern Holdings Ltd (GEH) told the Singapore Exchange on Friday that it will contribute RM2 billion as seed funding for the Malaysian government’s pilot B40 Health Protection Fund to provide free protection against top four critical illness starting Jan 1, 2019.
The coverage will be for up to RM8,000 and 14 days of hospitalisation income cover at RM50 per day.
The announcement came five days after it told the stock exchange that it had not decided on its contribution to the fund and was still in talks about it, after Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced GEH’s participation in his Budget 2019 speech.
“(GEH) wishes to update that as part of its corporate social responsibility efforts and in line with the objectives of the Malaysian authorities, it has decided on the option to make a contribution to the B40 Health Protection Fund, as announced by the Minister of Finance of Malaysia in his Budget Speech on Nov 2, 2018. Details are being finalised with the relevant parties in Malaysia,“ the group said.
GEH cautioned shareholders to refrain from taking any action in connection with this matter in respect of their shares in GEH which may be prejudicial to their interests, and to exercise caution when dealing in the shares of GEH.
GEH’s share price closed S$26.13 (RM78.39) on Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of S$12.368 billion (RM37.1 billion).
