KUALA LUMPUR (May 13): Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd will make a takeover offer soon to take Perdana Petroleum Bhd private, according to sources.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Perdana Petroleum said it had received a letter from Dayang, which controls some 29.88% interest in the company, stating it will be entering into a material corporate transaction involving Perdana Petroleum.

Both companies requested a suspension of trading for their respective shares and structured warrants, with effect from 9am tomorrow.

Since late last year, speculations have been rife that Dayang has been keen on increasing its interest in Perdana Petroleum to have better control of the latter’s assets.

Adding volume to the speculations, Dayang has been slowly accumulating its interest in Perdana Petroleum since October last year, when it only held a 25.49% interest.

Perdana (fundamental:1.3; valuation:1.4), which provides offshore marine services for the upstream oil and gas industry, is seen as a good fit to supplement Dayang's oil & gas business. Its share price has doubled from the recent low of RM1 in mid-March to RM1.50 today.  

Dayang (fundamental:2.7; valuation:2.1) which is involved in the maintenance of topside structures, pipes and valves, saw its share price close down 2 sen or 0.75% to RM2.64 today, for a market capitalisation of RM2.3 billion.

(Note: 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.)