EKOVEST TO SUBMIT IWCITY OFFER AT EGM
Company to present RM1.50 per share offer at EGM in mid-February
EKOVEST Bhd will present a proposal to buy a stake in Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd (IWCity) to its non-interested shareholders for consideration at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in mid-February.
Ekovest said the proposed offer entails the acquisition of a 62 per cent equity interest in IWCity by way of a cash consideration of RM1.50 for every one offer share surrendered, or a share exchanged based on an exchange ratio of one new ordinary share in Ekovest, to be issued at an issue price of RM1.50 each for every one offer share surrendered.
“It is the intention of Ekovest to acquire as many IWCity shares as possible via acquisitions from the open market and/or direct business transactions during the offer period at a consideration of not more than the offer price of RM1.50,” it said in a statement yesterday.
Ekovest also had entered into a conditional share sale agreement with Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Sdn Bhd (KPRJ) to acquire all 53.60 million IWCity shares, or 6.40 per cent stake, held by KPRJ for a total cash consideration of RM80.39 million, or RM1.50 per share.
The company said it did not intend to maintain the listing status of IWCity in the event that IWCity did not meet the public shareholding spread requirement as a result of the proposed offer.
“The proposed offer is conditional upon a voluntary general offer where Ekovest holds more than 50 per cent of the voting shares of IWCity and the mandatory general offer where Ekovest and the persons acting in concert collectively hold more than 50 per cent of the voting shares in IWCity,” it added.
The cash consideration for the proposed offer will be funded using a combination of bank borrowings and internally generated funds of the company, of which the breakdown is yet to be finalised at this juncture.
IWCity has interest in material properties in Plentong Land, Danga Land and Sutera Land, which collectively have a market value of RM3.68 billion.
The total audited net book value of land held for property development and property development costs of IWCity as at December 31 last year stood at RM1.01 billion.