Kian Joo remains mum on stake sale

by **hlk** Tue 10 Jan 2012, 07:42

KUALA LUMPUR: Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd (Kian
Joo) remains mum on why no announcement was made to Bursa Malaysia on
the same day its rival Can-One Bhd made an announcement to the stock
exchange.

Can-One’s announcement indicated that with the court verdict, it can now
proceed with its long-proposed purchase of the 32.9 per cent stake in
the former.

Kian Joo did not file any announcement on Friday to
Bursa Malaysia, which may lead to it being publicly reprimanded in due
course for its non-disclosure.

Business Times’ attempts to get comments from Bursa Malaysia proved futile.

An
analyst said Kian Joo must inform the stock market regulator of the
sale as the company is involved in the deal, adding that it was rather
strange that Kian Joo had not done so the same
time that Can-One made the annoucement.

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Calls to Kian Joo’s financial controller Alice See were also unsuccessful as she was “not in the office”.

The
Federal Court gave the green light for the sale of the controlling
stake in Kian Joo to Can-One on Thursday and Can-One reportedly claimed
that it only knew about the decision on Friday, while its stock price
has been on the rise since Thursday.

The 50-odd sen gain over the
two trading days continued yesterday with the Can-One counter rising a
further 23 sen to end yesterday’s trade at RM1.82.

Can-One, the
manufacturer of tin cans for paints and edible oil and food, has
proposed to buy the 32.9 per cent stake in Kian Joo since early 2009 for
RM1.65 per share. Kian Joo's stock closed at RM2.12 yesterday.

Kian Joo, meanwhile, is a significant player in the manufacturing of
aluminium and tin cans while its listed subsidiary Box-Pak (M) Bhd makes
corrugated carton boxes.

The See family has been in dispute
over the 32.9 per cent controlling stake since 15 years ago which led to
the appointment of liquidators to sell the stake.

Can-One's
interest to take over the stake in February 2009 was, however, met with
hurdles as the See family was not in favour of the move.