This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on October 12, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Businessman Tan Sri Muhammad Ikmal Opat Abdullah launched a takeover bid for Dataprep Holdings Bhd yesterday after he bought a controlling stake in the loss-making IT solutions company.

Wardah Communication Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned unit of Ikmal’s Widad Business Group Sdn Bhd (WBG), had acquired 270.54 million shares or a 64.2% stake in Dataprep from VXL Holdings Sdn Bhd at 16 sen a share — a price that was substantially below yesterday’s closing of 34 sen. Dataprep announced to the stock exchange that Wardah was making an unconditional mandatory takeover offer for the remaining shares at 16 sen per share, valuing the company at RM141.2 million.

The offer is a sharp discount of 18 sen or 52.9% to the closing price of 34 sen per share. The stock hit a high of 41 sen yesterday.

Yesterday, the share price of Dataprep fell five sen or 14.1% to its lowest point since the stock rallied sharply to an all-time high of 65 sen in March. VXL had been the group’s largest shareholder since June 2002 and is led by Datuk Lim Chee Wah, who is also a non-executive director of Dataprep.

The takeover offer will be open for 21 days, Dataprep said, and the offerers intend to maintain the group’s listing status.

Wardah was described by the group as a printing and publishing firm, in which Muhammad Ikmal owns a 95% stake and his wife Puan Sri Jamilah Mahamad Isa has a 5% stake.