For Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional, the clock is still ticking, in its tender to acquire Singapore's Parkway Holdings.

The deadline for its partial offer for Parkway shares is until 5.30pm on Thursday, before which it has to prove that it is still in the clash for the local health-care group.

In order to pragmatically take on India's Fortis Healthcare for power of Parkway, Khazanah will have to lift up its bid price, say market watchers.

Last month, Khazanah had placed a fractional tender to purchase Parkway shares at $3.78 each, last week rival Fortis countered them with a broader offer of $3.80 a share.

The three offers put forth by Khazanah are, the first one being doing nothing and letting its partial offer, second is to lengthen the partial pre offer limit with or without a better offer and the last one to stir up a clause that permits it to modify its partial offer into a common one.

And like everyone else Mr. Kevin Tan from OCBC Research too will have to gamble with an improved offer if it desired to stay in the game, said Khazanah.

The target of a takeover battle between India's Fortis and Malaysia's Khazanah, that is, the Parkway Holdings said that its appointing commission had voted that Vice Chairman Richard Seow 'should not be independent Director of the Company'.

The nominating committee however claimed that Mr. Seow had in the past implemented independent business verdicts and acted in the greatest interest of the Company.