Malaysian conglomerate Sunway won shareholder approval for its proposed takeover of construction firm IJM Corp, with 99.27% voting in favour at an extraordinary general meeting on Thursday, its chairman Jeffrey Cheah said.
The vote marks a significant step for Sunway, which launched the takeover offer on January 12 in a bid to acquire IJM at 3.15 ringgit per share or in a 11 billion ringgit ($2.76 billion) deal.
Cheah said Sunway was confident it could unlock greater value from IJM’s assets under a combined entity, adding that the offer would allow IJM shareholders to remain invested in the merged group through Sunway shares, while also receiving 10% of the consideration in cash.
The offer, however, has faced pushback from IJM’s independent adviser, which urged shareholders to reject the bid, saying the offer price represented a discount of between 46.1% and 51.4% to the estimated value of IJM shares.
Opposition to the deal also intensified after Malaysia’s largest asset manager, Permodalan Nasional Bhd, said on March 16 it would not accept Sunway’s voluntary takeover offer for its 13.5% stake in IJM.
Cheah said Sunway would not revise its offer, calling it the company’s “best offer” and saying it would walk away if shareholders did not accept it.
The proposed acquisition has also come under scrutiny from Malaysia’s anti-graft agency, which said it was probing whether there were any elements of corruption, abuse of power or governance breaches linked to the proposed transaction.
Cheah said he had received a letter from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission clearing the deal.
($1 = 3.9910 ringgit)
Reuters
