PETALING JAYA: Sunway Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Sir Dr Jeffrey Cheah is making a last-ditch effort to convince shareholders of IJM Corp Bhd
to accept Sunway Bhd’s RM11bil cash-and-share offer, with the closing date looming just around the corner on April 6.
In a briefing to select media, Cheah noted that Sunway’s total shareholder returns grew 387% over the 2016 to 2025 period versus IJM’s, which saw returns decrease by 9%.
Over the same period, Sunway’s share price rose by 339% while IJM’s fell by 33%.
The offer announced in mid-January priced IJM shares at RM3.15 a piece, with 10% to be paid in cash and the remainder in new shares in Sunway.
IJM’s shares have not traded beyond RM2.82 year-to-date.
He said the financial performance shows that the company has consistently delivered on returns over the short, medium and long terms.
“I think that’s why we believe that we are the better company to deliver,” Cheah told StarBiz.
“So now you look at what we do. Everything is not handed to us. It’s all hard work, ambition and good people, dedicated people who have delivered for us,” he said, adding that Sunway has been interested in IJM for quite some time due to the synergies.
He said the Sunway culture of employees going the extra mile for the company has made it what it is today.
Cheah shared a comparison of the pre-tax profit margins of Sunway and IJM in key business segments where both companies overlap and in which Sunway has generated superior margins and revenue.
Sunway generated a 12% pre-tax profit margin for its construction segment in 2025 versus IJM’s 4%, while in property development, Sunway yielded 27% over IJM’s 21%, and in the industry segment, Sunway generated a 16% margin versus IJM’s 17% despite the lower revenue base.
“We have got this track record, and we are very transparent and we have proven that we can build business right from scratch.
“We have got organic growth, and we have done so well. Now, you can see this result for the last 10 years,” Cheah explained.
To Cheah, the sweetener for IJM shareholders comes with the healthcare segment, in which the pre-tax profit margin stood at 12% in 2025.
“The value is huge. If you look at it, we know on a short-term basis, we are a better performer than IJM,” he pointed out.
Sunway owns a 69.5% stake in Sunway Healthcare Bhd, which was recently listed on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market in an RM2.86bil initial public offering, Malaysia’s largest in nine years which valued the company at RM16.7bil.
He remains hopeful that shareholders would be persuaded to accept the offer by April 6.
“We’re still in the running, as we’ve not completed the race. A miracle can still happen.
“So, with or without them [the government-linked investment companies (GLICs)], we theoretically can still make it to the 50% plus one,” Cheah said.
Sunway’s offer remains conditional on getting 50% plus one share by April 6.
As it stands, the GLICs own some 49% of IJM. The Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the largest shareholder in IJM with a 20.5% stake, has rejected the offer.
Other GLICs that have rejected the offer were the Retirement Fund Inc or KWAP, which owns a 9.6% stake, and Permodalan Nasional Bhd, with a 13.5% stake in IJM.
Cheah reasons that without the GLICs, Sunway can still get the numbers, although it would entail getting the other shareholders to accept the offer.
Addressing the politicisation of the offer, in which there have been accusations that GLICs representing bumiputra interests would be sidelined should the offer go through, Cheah said the EPF would have a 10% stake in Sunway if the provident fund accept the offer.
“We want to grow together and to benefit together, we want them to be part of the new, combined Sunway,” he said.
On the matter of whether a larger cash portion to the offer would improve the chances of the offer, he said: “It’s not that we cannot give more cash, but I thought that they should stay with us and get more of Sunway’s shares.
“So as far as GLICs are concerned, they are not getting out,” Cheah said.
Furthermore, he explained that the offer of 90% in new Sunway shares would mean GLICs have an opportunity to grow with a much stronger and larger company.
However, despite being hopeful that the offer would go through, he does not discount making another offer if this one fails.
“It will be a very different scenario next year,” he said.
