KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 19): Lim San Peen and Datuk Mohd Anwar Yahya of PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services Sdn Bhd (PwC), who have been appointed joint liquidators of Sona Petroleum Bhd, plan to distribute 97% of the monies held in the special purpose acquisition company's (SPAC) cash trust account to eligible shareholders by November.

The balance 3% of the monies will be distributed within two years from the first distribution, said Sona.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Sona said as at today, the total gross amount of monies held in the cash trust account is RM543.25 million. This is equivalent to a gross distribution value of 49.38 sen per share (excluding tax and other distribution cost).

Sona said the High Court of Malaya had on Sept 15 granted an order to wind up the SPAC after it failed to make a qualifying acquisition, which it had to complete by July 31 this year.

"The company's solicitors are in the process of extracting the sealed order from the High Court as soon as possible," it added.

Pursuant to Section 228 of the Companies Act 1965, Lim and Mohd Anwar are required to notify the Registrar of Companies of their appointment and deposit with the official receiver a security deposit before they are empowered to act. This will be done by the liquidators upon extraction of the sealed order.

Sona also noted that the powers of the board of directors to deal with the company's property or to manage its undertakings have ceased and the board is in the course of preparing a statement of Sona's affairs to be submitted to Lim and Mohd Anwar.

Sona shares closed unchanged at 46.5 sen today, bringing a market capitalisation of RM655.98 million.