KUALA LUMPUR: Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Bhd
's controlling shareholder is proposing to privatise and subsequently delist the Main Market-listed company via a selective capital reduction and repayment exercise valued at RM603.4mil or RM20 a share.
Ajinomoto Co Inc, a 50.38% stakeholder in the monosodium glutamate producer, said the proposed privatisation will allow minority shareholders to exit and realise their holdings in the company at a premium.
It added that trading liquidity in the share has historically been very low with an average daily trading volume of about 38,715 shares for the past five years, making it difficult for shareholders to realise their investments.
The privatisation and delisting will also enable Ajinomoto Malaysia to have greater flexibility to pursue its business objective and enhance operational efficiency.
"This includes streamlining and simplifying its corporate structure without the need to allocate management time and resources to comply with regulatory requirements, including ongoing disclosure and reporting requirements, or to incur costs associated with maintaining its listed status on Bursa Securities," it said in a proposal letter to the board of Ajinomoto Malaysia.
It added that Ajinomoto Malaysia has not undertaken any equity fundraising activity from the capital market for more than 10 years.
According to the proposal, the issued share capital of Ajinomoto Malaysia is RM65.1mil, comprising 60.8 million shares.
Under the capital repayment plan, the entitled shareholders, which own 49.62% of the shares in the company not held by Ajinomoto Co Inc, will receive a total capital repayment of RM603.4mil in cash, representing RM20 per share.
Ajinomoto Malaysia will undertake a bonus issue of 571.11 million shares by way of capitalising RM571.1mil from its retained earnings to bridge the difference between the capital repayment and the existing issued share capital of the company.
Following the bonus issue, all the shares held by the entitled shareholders and as well as the bonus shares will be cancelled, leaving Ajinomoto Co Inc with 100% equity interest in the company.
The offer price ranges from 30.68% to 49.93% above the five-day and one-year volume weighted average market price of Ajinomoto Malaysia's shares. It stands at a 31.58% premium above the share's closing price of RM15.20 as at the last trading day of June 19, 2026.
Trading in Ajinomoto Malaysia's shares has been suspended on June 22, 2026, and will resume on the next day (June 23).
