Kulim rejects MCCM’s offer for QSR

by **hlk** Tue 17 Jan 2012, 20:06

KUALA LUMPUR: Kulim (M) Bhd has rejected the unsolicited offer from the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (MCCM)
to buy its 58.68% stake in QSR Brands Bhd at RM6.90 a share.
Kulim announced yesterday that its board of directors had deliberated on MCCM’s offer, which would have required the
approval of Kulim’s shareholders.
“Kulim took note of the stand by its holding corporation, Johor Corp (JCorp), that it would not support any proposal to dispose
of the QSR shares,” read the announcement.
To recap, MCCM had offered to buy Kulim’s 58.68% stake in QSR at RM6.90 a share, rivalling an earlier RM6.80 offer by
Massive Equity Sdn Bhd, a joint-venture vehicle between Kulim’s ultimate parent JCorp and private equity firm CVC Capital
Partners.
Massive Equity had made a conditional offer to acquire the entire business and undertakings including all assets and liabilities
of QSR and KFC Holdings (M) Bhd (KFCH) on Dec 14, which works out to RM5.3 billion excluding warrants.
MCCM’s offer was only for Kulim’s stake in QSR, although such an acquisition would have eventually triggered a general offer
(GO) for QSR and KFCH.
Massive Equity offered RM4 per KFCH share and RM1
per warrant. Both QSR and KFCH accepted the buyout
offer made by JCorp and CVC seven days after the
offer was made and stressed that their boards were
not seeking alternative bids.
MCCM’s bid saw a muted response from investors
even though it had offered 10 sen more per share.
“This is part of the overall JCorp’s rationalisation
programme for its various divisions to focus on their
core businesses. For example, via this restructuring,
Kulim would exit the food retail business and focus on
plantations,” said Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, Johor
Menteri Besar and chairman of JCorp, explaining the rationale behind the acquisition in a question and answer session with
Bernama.
QSR was thinly traded and closed unchanged at RM6.51 yesterday. Likewise, KFCH closed unchanged at RM3.82 with
234,000 shares traded. Kulim lost two sen to RM4.39 from RM4.41 on the back of 868,600 shares done.