KUALA LUMPUR (May 29): MAA Group Bhd's controlling shareholder Tunku Datuk Yaacob Khyra states that the group will not up the selective capital repayment (SCR).
Minority shareholders of MAA rejected the proposed SCR of RM1.10 per share, which was meant to pave way for Yaacob to take the group private, at the EGM today.
The group's share price took a dive, falling as much as 19.5 sen or 19.6% as at 3.30pm. Trading volume swell to 1.13 million shares in the afternoon session on the news that the proposed SCR has fallen through.
Speaking to reporters after the EGM, Yaacob said there will not be a revised SCR offer.
"It is one-off," said Yaacob. "The shareholders have decided for [MAA] to continue listing... So now it is for us to go on along that route."
Yaacob also justified the SCR as being made to "realign the market price" of MAA shares, which has long traded at the 50-sen range.
"The good thing is shareholders now realise that the company is worth a lot more. It (share price) might go down [after the SCR was rejected], but that is cheap! The shareholders value it at RM1.90. Ask yourselves how much would you pay for the company," said Yaacob.
He said the next course of action is to negotiate with regulators to allow MAA to embark on multiple acquisition of smaller size businesses instead of looking for one big company that makes RM20 million per year under its current restriction as a PN17 entity.
"A company of that size can go on listing by itself, so [sellers] ask for high price," said Yaacob. "[The regulators] need to be more flexible... It is easier to buy five companies making RM4 million each."
He added that it is not possible for MAA to look for companies in the financial services segment of the right size — they are either too big to acquire, or smaller than required under regulatory guidelines.
"That is what MAA really wants to do — financial services. So we will keep our insurance business [in the Philippines] and grow that, but to comply to regulatory requirement we will buy into [other segments]," said Yaacob.