Flash Matang board resigns en masse after Scope deal shot down by shareholders

[Cals]

Flash Matang board resigns en masse after Scope deal shot down by shareholders
Business & Markets 2013
Written by theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 13 June 2013 16:30

Flash: Matang board resigns en masse after Scope deal shot down by shareholders.

[Cals]

KUALA LUMPUR (June 13): Matang Holdings Bhd, set up by Johor MCA in the 1980s to pool the resources of its members to go big in business, announced that its board of directors resigned en masse today.

"The Matang Board of Directors announces its resignation en masse effectively from June 13, 2013 as a gesture to respect the decision of the shareholders made on May 31 to reject the reverse takeover (RTO) of SCOPE INDUSTRIES BHD [] by Matang Holdings," said a statement from the company.

"It was rather unfortunate to see that the transaction had been politicised by some people. We admit that our communication with the shareholders regarding the RTO was inadequate hence resulting in exploitation of the issue by some quarters," added the statement.

The board of Matang said this decision was made "based on investment banker's recommendation and in the best interest of Matang shareholders".

The Matang-Scope deal had stirred up controversy in MCA mainly because the terms and conditions of the deal did not seem to benefit Matang shareholders.

In addition, the ACE Market-listed Scope does not have strong financials having incurred losses in recent quarters, compared to cash-rich Matang with oil palm PLANTATION []s.

Doubts have also been raised on this so-called RTO, as Matang will not be in control of Scope after the corporate exercise is completed.

Politically, while MCA president Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek was keen to inject Matang into Scope, his deputy Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and many other MCA central committee members were against the proposed takeover of Matang by Scope.

The divergence in views of these two camps in Matang had threatened to split MCA further. Chua was urged to quit his post following a humiliating defeat by the MCA in the recent general election.