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KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby Bhd plans to extend the offer period for the takeover of New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPOL) from Dec 18, 2014 to Jan 20, 2015.

Last October, Sime Darby, via its wholly-owned unit Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd (SD Plantation), proposed to buy the entire stake in NBPOL for £7.15 (RM25) a share or £1.07 billion cash.

The privatisation of the United Kingdom and Papua New Guinea-listed NBPOL would see Sime Darby delisting NBPOL from the UK bourse.

The acquisition of NBPOL includes Kulim (M) Bhd’s 48.97% stake in NBPOL. On Wednesday, at the company’s extraordinary general meeting, Kulim shareholders approved the NBPOL stake sale to Sime Darby. Following Kulim shareholders’ approval, Sime Darby said, it had secured 58.7% of NBPOL’s voting shares as at yesterday.

“With this, one of the conditions precedent of the offer, being the minimum acceptance condition of the offer of not less than 51% voting rights in NBPOL received by SD Plantation, has now been satisfied,” Sime Darby said.

The exercise needs to fulfil several conditions. Earlier, Sime Darby said these include the European Commission’s declaration that the offer is compatible with the internal market.

Sime Darby shares rose 13 sen or 1.37% to RM9.64 yesterday, giving it a market value of RM58.46 billion.The stock has risen 1% year-to-date, outperforming the FBM KLCI’s 6% decline.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 5, 2014.

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