Ekovest Bhd failed to get its shareholders' full support for the takeover of Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd
KUALA LUMPUR: Ekovest Bhd
failed to get shareholders support for the takeover of Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd (IWC) at its EGM on Thursday.
About 69.2% shareholders voted against the resolution and 30.8% were in favour.
Tan Sri Lim Kang Hoo, who is the common shareholder in both Ekovest and IWC, initiated the corporate exercise to re-organise his property, toll roads and construction stable of companies.
In the proposal, Ekovest offered IWC shareholders a share swap or cash of RM1.50. The proposal only involved 62% of IWC.
Lim who holds an effective 38% interest in IWC did not offer his block of shares.
The rationale for the exercise was to match IWC’s land bank with Ekovest’s cash flow. It was part of Lim’s plan to list Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Bhd in the future.
Lim and parties acting in concert held just above 50% in Ekovest and did not vote in the deal, which was mainly left to the minorities of the company to decide. The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and insurance company, AIA, are among the larger institutional shareholders in Ekovest.
In the circular to shareholders, Ekovest was valued at between RM3.86 to RM4.08 per share while IWC’s fair value was at RM3.06 per share.
The independent advisers proposed that Ekovest shareholders accept the offer on the grounds that IWC has land bank of more than 1,000 acres in Johor Baru
However it is learnt that minority shareholders were not keen as the land bank would take time to develop and sentiments on property related investments were poor.
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