Wednesday, June 22, 2011

MAA active, extends losses

KUALA LUMPUR: MAA HOLDINGS BHD [] extended its losses on Wednesday, June 22 after the stock plunged the previous day following the company's announcement that the sale its insurance assets are valued at barely 1.35 times of book value.

At 11.15am, MAA fell four sen to 68.5 sen with 19.57 million shares traded.

The 1.35 times valuation is much lower than other recent transactions in the industry that included the divestments by JERNEH ASIA BHD [] and PACIFICMAS BHD [] with sales at above 1.6 times book value.

MAA said its unit MAA Corp Sdn Bhd had entered into a conditional sale and agreement with Zurich Insurance Co Ltd where MAA Holdings will sell its entire stake in Malaysian Assurance Alliance Bhd (MAAB), Multioto Services Sdn Bhd, Malaysian Alliance Property Services Sdn Bhd and Maagnet System Sdn Bhd.

The Edge Financial Daily on June 21 reported that the RM344 million price tag came as a surprise to the industry as it was substantially low compared to the rumoured pricing with some observers putting the relevant price tag at somewhere between RM450 million and RM500 million.

According to analysts, the low valuation could be attributed to concerns about MAA Holdings' assets quality in the face of high level of non-performing loans.

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