This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on July 5, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: TA Global Bhd shareholders stand to receive a mandatory general offer (MGO) from Datuk Tony Tiah Thee Kian if his interest in stockbroking group TA Enterprise Bhd crosses the 50% mark.

This is because of TA Enterprise’s 60.17% stake in property developer TA Global, in which Thee Kian and persons acting in concert (PACs) control another 15.34% stake.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, TA Enterprise said it had received a supplemental notice from Thee Kian on his takeover offer on Monday, saying in the event that the offer turns unconditional, it would trigger an obligation to undertake another MGO for TA Global shares, for an offer price of 31.01 sen per share.

The supplemental notice said the offer price represents the volume weighted average price of TA Global’s share price for the last 20 market days prior to the date of the notice.

Thee Kian and the PACs’ offer would become unconditional if they collectively own more than 50% of the voting shares in TA Enterprise.

To recap, on Monday, Thee Kian launched an MGO for TA Enterprise at 66 sen per share after acquiring 14.33 million shares or a 0.84% stake in the stockbroking firm at between 61 sen and 66 sen per share on the open market.

Following the acquisition, TA Enterprise co-founder and non-executive chairman Thee Kian held 558.35 million shares or a 32.62% stake in TA Enterprise. PACs — owning 7.89 million shares or a 0.46% stake in the group — and Thee Kian collectively own 566.24 million shares or a 33.08% stake in TA Enterprise.

The PACs comprise Tiah’s wife and TA Enterprise managing director and chief executive officer Datin Alicia Tan Kuay Fong or popularly known as Datin Alicia Tiah; his sister-in-law and TA Global executive director Kimmy Khoo Poh Kim; his daughters Tiah Sook Lin and Tiah Ee Laine; his brother Datuk Tiah Thee Seng; and his brother-in-law Ong Khay Soon.

As a result of the acquisition, Thee Kian is obliged to extend an MGO to acquire the remaining 1.15 billion shares or 66.92% of TA Enterprise shares that he does not own at 66 sen per share — the highest price paid to acquire TA Enterprise shares within the past six months — or about RM755 million in total.

The 66 sen offer price represents a 3.58% premium to the five-day volume weighted average price of 63.72 sen per share.