Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Ambang Sehati mulls increasing BDRB stake

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 22): BANDAR RAYA DEVELOPMENTS BHD [] (BDRB) said its major shareholder Ambang Sehati Sdn Bhd is mulling the possibility of increasing its stake in BDRB.

BDRB said that during its board meeting on Tuesday, an Ambang Sehati representative informed that 'it is exploring the possibility of increasing its stake in the company via various means, which may or may not result in a general offer'.

BDRB said Ambang Sehati had emphasised that this exercise was still at an evaluation stage.

BDRB also said it had decided to defer the tender exercise for the disposal of the assets to the first quarter of 2012. The deferment was due to the upcoming year-end holidays and Ambang Sehati's intention to possibility raise its stake.

To recap, on Sept 5, Ambang Sehati - which owns 18.88% of BRDB - had proposed to acquire BRDB's four investment PROPERTIES [], namely CapSquare Retail Centre, Permas Jusco Mall, Bangsar Shopping Centre and Menara BRDB.

The four properties have a total net lettable area of 907,817 sq ft and a total carrying value RM942.4 million, according to BRDB's latest annual report.

Ambang Sehati's shareholders include BRDB chairman Datuk Mohamed Moiz JM Ali Moiz, Datuk Seri Akbar Khan Mohamed Khan and Abdul Sathar MSM Abdul Kadir.

On Sept 19, BRDB's board accepted the offer from Ambang Sehati to acquire four of BRDB's investment assets for RM430 million net of liabilities of RM484 million. The plan was that after the proposed disposal, BRDB would distribute part of the proceeds to the shareholders via a net cash dividend of 80 sen per share.

However, on Sept 26, BRDB and Ambang Sehati announced they had mutually agreed to cease all negotiations'' and BDRB would look into the disposal of the relevant selected assets by way of a tender exercise, and Ambang Sehati will be invited to participate in the tender.

Subsequent to the aforesaid meeting, BDRB decided that it will appoint an independent international property valuation firm to manage the tender exercise.

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