KUALA LUMPUR: Integrax Bhd’s co-founder Amin Halim Rasip has filed a lawsuit against Perak Corp Bhd (fundamental: 1.9; valuation: 1.2) and its directors over claims the latter did not make a decision in the best interest of Perak Corp shareholders.
This follows Perak Corp board of directors’ recent decision to reaffirm its stance to seek approval from the group’s shareholders to vote in favour of disposing of its 15.74% stake in the port operator to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) for RM3.25 per share at the upcoming extraordinary general meeting (EGM) tomorrow.
Perak Corp’s board had announced that it was of the view that TNB’s offer for its entire stake was “superior”.
“I have commenced legal action against Perak Corp and its directors in respect of due care, diligence and judgement to be exercised always in the best interest of all Perak Corp shareholders,” Amin said in a statement yesterday.
Amin said he has also given notice to Perak Corp and its board to table a modified or additional resolution at the EGM.
Under the additional resolution, Perak Corp is required to invite further offers from TNB (fundamental: 1.3; valuation: 1.8) or any other party and seek a minimum price offer of RM3.66 per Integrax share. TNB held a 24.82% stake in Integrax as at March 19.
“I urge all Perak Corp shareholders to consider and vote for this modified resolution, and achieve a higher value from any sale of the Integrax shares as its assets are strong with consistent cash flow and profit producing assets,” he said.
On March 18, Amin, who owns 24.6% of Integrax shares, offered to buy an additional 5% stake in the port operator for RM3.50 per share from Perak Corp.
“I recommend that other Integrax shareholders wait until the outcome of the Perak Corp EGM before making any decision to sell their Integrax shares, as the strategic assets of Lekir Bulk Terminal (Sdn Bhd) and Lumut Maritime Terminal (Sdn Bhd) are worth much more,” he said.
In a note on Tuesday, RHB Research said it sees the likelihood of Perak Corp accepting TNB’s offer, vis-à-vis Amin’s slightly higher one.
“We continue to recommend investors to accept its (TNB) offer, given that the RM3.25 per share offer for Integrax is already at a high premium to our fair value of only RM2.46,” the research firm added.
Perak Corp shares closed unchanged at RM2.85 yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM284 million. Integrax’s share price also ended the day unchanged at RM3.17, with a market cap of RM935.55 million.
TNB’s share price, on the other hand, rose four sen or 0.28% to close at RM14.50. It has a market cap of RM81.61 billion.
The Edge Research’s fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations. Go to www.theedgemarkets.com for more details on a company’s financial dashboard.
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 26, 2015.