PETALING JAYA: UMW Holdings Bhd
, the company behind one out of two vehicles sold in Malaysia last year, has officially become the indirect subsidiary of Sime Darby Bhd.
Sime Darby, via its unit Sime Darby Enterprise Sdn Bhd, emerged as the single-largest shareholder of UMW yesterday after it paid RM3.57bil to acquire Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s (PNB) 61.18% stake in UMW.
The RM3.57bil translates to RM5 per share. UMW shares closed at RM4.97 each yesterday.
It is noteworthy that PNB owns a 5.11% equity interest in Sime Darby and is deemed to have a 37.73% interest via Amanah Saham Bumiputra.
It also has a collective 4.37% shareholdings through its other unit trust funds, including Amanah Saham Malaysia 2 –Wawasan, Amanah Saham Malaysia and Amanah Saham Malaysia 3.
Following the acquisition of the 61.18% stake, Sime Darby also issued a mandatory general offer to acquire all the remaining UMW shares that it does not hold.
The remaining 38.82% stake will be acquired for RM2.27bil or RM5 per share.
Sime Darby planned to eventually de-list UMW from the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.
The consolidation of Sime Darby and UMW will create the country’s new automotive giant. It will add high-volume mass-market brands Toyota and Perodua into its portfolio that already boasts the likes of Ford, Hyundai, BMW, Porsche, Rolls-Royce and Land Rover.
UMW holds 51% stake in UMW Toyota Motor as well as 38% stake in Perodua.
Pursuant to Sime Darby emerging as the major shareholder of UMW, the former appointed Mustamir Mohamad as UMW’s new president and chief executive officer Mustamir was previously the chief financial officer of Sime Darby.
With the appointment of Mustamir, Megat Shahrul Azmir, who had been serving as UMW’s officer-in-charge in the interim, will relinquish that position and continue on as president of UMW equipment division.
