Tuesday, June 21, 2011

MAA falls on "cheap" sale of insurance arm

KUALA LUMPUR: MAA HOLDINGS BHD [] shares fell in active trade on Tuesday, June 21 after a detailed announcement on the divestment of its insurance business showed that at RM344 million, its assets were valued at barely 1.36 times book value.

At 11.10am, MAA fell 22.5 sen to 80.5 sen with 32.9 million shares traded.

The 1.36 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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