PETALING JAYA: Hextar Retail Bhd’s major shareholder Datuk Eddie Ong Choo Meng has triggered a mandatory takeover offer for the company after Hextar Portfolio Sdn Bhd, his investment vehicle, raised its stake to 35.42%.
The mandatory offer follows the conditional voluntary takeover offer of 43 sen per share announced on Aug 10.
In a press notice issued by principal adviser RHB Investment Bank Bhd yesterday, Hextar Portfolio said it had acquired 22.41 million Hextar Retail shares at prices not exceeding the cash offer price of 43 sen per share.
This increased the collective stake held by Hextar Portfolio and Ong to 164.7 million shares, or 35.42%, from 142.29 million shares, or 30.6%, as at Sept 1.
The acquisition crossed the 33% threshold, triggering the requirement for Ong and parties acting in concert with him to make a mandatory offer for the remaining shares in Hextar Retail.
Hextar Portfolio said the offer price will remain at 43 sen, as offerors and persons acting in concert with them had not acquired or agreed to acquire any shares at a higher price during the relevant period.
“As such, the offeror is not required to revise the offer price,” the letter noted.
As at 5pm, the offerors had also received valid acceptances for 0.15%, bringing their total holdings and valid acceptances to 35.57%.
Another 0.08% shares were subject to verification.
The takeover offer was first announced on Aug 10, when Choo Meng and a person acting in concert with him, Ong Kook Liong, made a conditional voluntary offer for Hextar Retail at 43 sen per share.
The offerors intend to maintain Hextar Retail’s listing status on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.
Hextar Retail, formerly known as Classic Scenic, is principally involved in the manufacturing of wooden picture frame moulding. It operates nine factories in Rawang, Selangor, and Bidor, Perak, and has also ventured into the food and beverage and apparel industries.
