KUALA LUMPUR: Boustead Holdings Bhd's stock trading, which was suspended in the afternoon session yesterday, restarted at 84 sen a share at the opening bell.
The stock is seeing a flurry of activity ater it was announced yesterday that it had received a takeover offer from majority shareholder Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) at 85.5 sen per share.
Within moments of trading, the stock was bought up to the takeover price of 85.5 sen a share, representing a 30.53% increase over the last traded price.
As at 9.24am, The counter was the most active on Bursa Malaysia with 44.42 million shares exchanging hands.
Meanwhile, Boustead warrants BSTEAD-CR were up three sen to eight sen a unit.
News of the proposed takeover also triggered a mild rebound in Boustead's 52%-owned subsidiary Pharmaniaga Bhd
, which rose one sen to 26 sen a share on the back of 15.91 million shares traded.
The pharmaceutical firm, now a Practice Note 17 (PN17) company, had succumbed to strong selling pressure since Tuesday after it announced a huge quarterly loss due to RM552.3mil in impairments from unsold Covid-19 vaccines.
As for Boustead's other subsidiaries, 64.99%-held Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd was up two sen to 39.5 sen and 57.42%-owned Boustead Plantations Bhd rose 0.5 sen to 74 sen.
Boustead's 20.93%-owned associate Affin Bank Bhd was unchanged at RM2.08.
LTAT said in a press statement yesterday it would acquire all of the equity interest in Boustead it did not already own at 85.5 sen a share.
Based on the outstanding 822.51 million shares or 40.58% stake, LTAT will spend RM703.25mil to gain full control over the group, which has interests in the plantations, property and industrial, pharmaceutical, heavy industries and trading, finance and investment sectors.
“The offeror does not intend to maintain the listing status,” said Boustead in its filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
As LTAT owns a 59.42% interest or more than 50% of the voting shares in the company, the takeover offer is not conditional upon any minimal level of acceptances.
However, the offer remains conditional upon the Minister of Finance's approval upon Bank Negara's recommendation and approval under Section 87 of the Financial Services Act 2013 and Section 99 of the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 to allow it to acquire up to 100% equity interest in Boustead.
The offer is also conditional upon a waiver from Bank Negara from complying with Section 110 of the FSA and Section 122 of the IFSA in relation to the requirement for LTAT and/or its nominated company to be approved as a financial holding company of Affin Bank Bhd and other relevant licensed entities.
In accordance with the Rules on Take-overs, Mergers and Compulsory Acquisitions issued by Securities Commission Malaysia, the conditions must be fulfilled within 21 days after the first closing date.
As LTAT already has statutory control over Boustead, the offer will not result in any mandatory offer to acquire the remaining voting shares in Affin Bank, Boustead Plantations, Boustead Heavy Industries Corp and Pharmaniaga it does not already own.
