KUALA LUMPUR (April 7): Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) rose as much as four sen or 6.25% to 68 sen on Thursday, after Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) granted approval for the company to commence negotiations to acquire Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd (MIDF) from Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB).

At closing, the counter pared some gains to settle at 65.5 sen, still up 1.5 sen or 2.34%. The last traded price valued the company at RM4.59 billion.

The counter was the most actively traded stock of the day, with 117.49 million shares done. Year to date, the stock has gained 21.3%.

MBSB said in a bourse filing on Wednesday that BNM had, vide its letter dated April 6, said it had no objection for MBSB to enter into discussions with PNB to explore the possibility of acquiring PNB's 100% shareholding in MIDF. The approval is valid for six months.

MIDF is a diversified group financial services provider with three core businesses, namely investment banking, asset management and development finance.

It is also considered a non-prescribed development financial institution established by the government with a specific mandate to develop and promote key sectors that have strategic importance to the overall socio-economic development objectives of the country.

MBSB, which is 65.39% owned by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), has 47 branches nationwide as of Feb 28. In November 2017, MBSB acquired Asian Finance Bank Bhd for RM644.95 million, and renamed it MBSB Bank via a rebranding exercise.