IGB board to let shareholders decide on privatisation proposal

IGB Real Estate Investment Trust owns Mid Valley Megamalll and the neighbouring Gardens Mall in Kuala Lumpur.

KUALA LUMPUR: IGB Corp Bhd will present a proposal to take the company private to its shareholders. 

In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday, IGB said the proposal by its biggest shareholder Goldis Bhd, which seeks to acquire the remaining shares in IGB not already owned by it, would be forwarded to its shareholders to decide.

Goldis currently holds 73.43% of IGB’s share capital, excluding treasury shares.

IGB said the board of directors, minus interested directors, had deliberated on the offer by Goldis and had decided to put forward the offer to the eligible shareholders for consideration based on the preliminary opinion of independent adviser Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd.

Goldis, which submitted a formal proposal on Feb 23, had asked IGB to revert by March 30 on its decision whether to put forward the proposal to its shareholders for consideration. At the end of March, IGB’s board asked for more time - until April 28 - to evaluate the offer, which Goldis agreed to give.

IGB shareholders are offered RM3 for each IGB share held, but they can choose to be paid in one of three ways: 100% cash, a mixture of cash (30%) and Goldis shares (70%), or a combination of cash (20%) and new Goldis redeemable convertible preference shares (80%).

Goldis will be paying a total consideration of about RM1.06bil.

IGB has prized assets such as Mid Valley City, which comprises 2.7 million sq ft of retail mall space, 3.2 million sq ft of prime office space in Kuala Lumpur and over 5,500 hotel rooms across the globe, according to a note by AllianceDBS Research.

IGB also owns a 52.3% stake in IGB Real Estate Investment Trust, which in turn owns Mid Valley Megamall and The Gardens Mall.

On completion of the proposed scheme, Goldis intends to rename the group IGB Bhd, which stands for “Ipoh Goldis Bersatu”.