Joint offerors to keep SP Setia listed

The joint offerors for SP Setia Bhd, Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) and Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, will maintain the listing status of the company.

In a joint statement today, they said they were committed to ensure that the company would continue to be the premier listed property developer on Bursa Malaysia.

The joint offerors said they would be working together with the advisers and SP Setia to explore all possible options to restore the public shareholding spread of the company.

The mandatory general offer (MGO) for SP Setia announced on Jan 20, 2012 by the joint offerors closed on March 19, 2012.

As a result of the MGO, the aggregate shareholding of PNB and the unit trust funds under its management has risen from 32.99 per cent in September 2011 to 70.71 per cent while Liew, SP Setia's president/chief executive officer, had maintained his 8.24 per cent directly-held stake in the company.

Hence, the total shareholding held by the joint offerors is now 78.95 per cent.

PNB president and group chief executive, Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman, said both parties were happy the exercise has been concluded satisfactorily.

He expected SP Setia to continue to perform well and be a significant contributor to the investment portfolio of PNB and the unit trust funds under its management.

"We now look forward to continue building on the strong success of SP Setia by strengthening our property sales and we are confident we will be able to see sustained growth in the remaining quarters of this financial year," Liew said. -- BERNAMA