IGB Corp climbs 1.41% as Goldis falls 3.77% on takeover news

IGB Corp climbs 1.41% as Goldis falls 3.77% on takeover news
Business & Markets 2014
Written by Charlotte Chong of theedgemalaysia.com
Tuesday, 22 July 2014 09:10

KUALA LUMPUR: After Goldis Bhd made a conditional takeover offer to IGB Corp Bhd last Friday to raise its equity interest in the property firm, IGB announced that it would not be seeking another offer for its shares.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, IGB said this was decided by its board of directors, “save for Datuk Seri Robert Tan Chung Meng, Tan Boon Seng, Tan Boon Lee, Tan Lei Cheng, Pauline Tan Suat Ming, Tony Tan @ Choon Keat, Daniel Yong Chen-I and Tan Yee Seng”, also known as its “interested directors”, at a special board meeting held to deliberate the Goldis offer.

The company also said Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd will be appointed the independent adviser to advise the board and its minority shareholders on the offer.

IGB climbed 2.81% to an intraday high of RM2.92 yesterday before closing 1.41% higher at RM2.88 — with 15.03 million shares traded — translating to a market capitalisation of RM3.84 billion. Its warrant climbed 9.09% to 18 sen.

Meanwhile, Goldis, which owns a direct interest of 30.66% in IGB, fell 4.18% or 10 sen to an intraday low of RM2.29 yesterday. It closed at RM2.30 — with RM548,900 shares changing hands and a market capitalisation of RM1.4 billion — a 3.77% drop from its previous close of RM2.84 last Friday.

Goldis’ warrant also fell, closing 26.67% lower at 16.5 sen.

To recap, Goldis made a conditional takeover offer to IGB last Friday for RM2.88 per share of all the remaining shares that it does not presently own [excluding treasury shares]. The offer price is a premium of four sen or 1.4% to its RM2.84 closing price last Thursday.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia last Friday, Goldis said it would maintain the listing status of IGB on the local bourse.

Goldis’ move has been seen as a second attempt by the Tan family to tighten its grip on the prized Mid Valley Megamall and The Gardens Mall assets, which are wholly-owned by IGB Real Estate Investment Trust, in which IGB Corp is the 51% controlling shareholder.

About a year ago, Goldis had attempted a share swap and cash offer to inject its 30.59% in IGB into unlisted Steady Paramount Sdn Bhd, that valued Goldis’ shares at RM2.34 per share.

However, the deal was called off later after negative feedback from minority shareholders.

The Tan family has an estimated 59% stake in Goldis, held collectively through the vehicles of siblings Chung Meng, Suat Ming, Choon Keat, and their cousin Boon Seng. Collectively, the Tan family already holds a substantial stake in IGB Corp.



This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 22, 2014.