KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) has pledged to take up its full entitlement under UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd’s (UMW-OG) proposed rights issue with warrants, which will cost it more than RM800mil.
The country’s biggest fund management company has also given its undertaking to acquire the excess rights shares not taken up by other entitled UMW-OG shareholders.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, UMW-OG said it received a letter from PNB on Friday giving its irrevocable undertakings.
If PNB was later unable to carry out its undertakings as a result of the collective shareholding of PNB, Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) and other funds under PNB’s management exceeding 65% of UMW-OG’s share capital, PNB must in addition subscribe for new Islamic redeemable convertible preference shares in UMW-OG (RCPS-i).
This subscription will be for up to 4.85 billion new RCPS-i along with up to 1.21 billion free warrants at 30 sen per preference share (same price as the rights shares -- the conversion ratio is one new UMW-OG share for one RCPS-i held but subject to adjustments by the board from time to time).
This is to ensure that UMW-OG, a loss-making oil & gas drilling services provider, will be able to raise the targeted gross proceeds of RM1.816bil, which will be used to pare debt and boost its working capital.
The proposed renounceable rights issue is on the basis of 14 rights shares for every five ordinary shares held in UMW-OG.
Assuming that PNB and the unit trust funds under its management subscribe to the same percentage of rights shares as their 45.5% equity interest in UMW-OG (following UMW Holdings’ divestment of UMW-OG shares), PNB will have to fork out RM825.87mil.
The rights issue undertakings will expire at 5pm on Dec 31, 2017, or the date of the announcement of the rights issue subscription level on Bursa Malaysia’s website, whichever comes earlier.
UMW-OG is proposing that PNB and persons acting in concert with it be exempted from the obligation to undertake a mandatory takeover offer for the remaining shares and warrants they do not own.
UMW-OG shares closed one sen lower at 51.5 sen on Friday with 520,000 shares changing hands.
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