KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): Glove manufacturer Supermax Corp Bhd has aborted a plan to acquire two pieces of freehold land in Setia Alam, Selangor from S P Setia Bhd's subsidiary Bandar Setia Alam Sdn Bhd for RM73.49 million cash to build an operations headquarters for its wholly-owned subsidiary Maxter Glove Manufacturing Sdn Bhd.

This follows its failure to obtain approval from the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) to waive a 30% Bumiputera equity ownership condition prior to transferring ownership of the land.

On Sept 21, 2020, Supermax, through Maxter, had entered into a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Bandar Setia Alam to acquire the two pieces of land, measuring about 1.99ha (approximately 4.962 acres) in Bukit Raja.

The proposed acquisition was subject to the EPU's approval to transfer ownership of the land if Maxter meets the 30% Bumiputera equity ownership. On May 24, 2021, Maxter had submitted an appeal to waive the EPU approval condition. However, this was rejected by the EPU on Dec 15, 2021.

"Based on the above, Maxter has requested for the termination of the SPA in accordance with Clause 2A.4 of the SPA where it is stipulated that the purchaser shall be entitled to terminate the SPA if the EPU conditions after appeal is not acceptable to the purchaser," said Supermax in a bourse filing on Monday (Feb 14).

Following the termination, it added that the total deposit refund including stamp duty has been duly received by Supermax on Jan 27, and the caveat on the land withdrawn effective Jan 31.

“The termination does not have a material effect on the group's earnings per share, net assets per share and gearing for the financial year ending June 30, 2022,” said Supermax.

At 2.43pm, shares in Supermax were down four sen or 3.36% at RM1.15, with 4.2 million shares done. Its market capitalisation stood at RM3.13 billion.