By Lawrence Yong
Minority shareholders of national carrier MISC Bhd, scuttled a plan by state controlled oil major Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) to privatise the shipping company at RM5.50 a share, or RM9.6 billion.
As at 5pm Friday, only 23.4 percent of MISC’s minority shareholders agreed to sell their shares to Petronas—nudging the oil major’s shareholding of its shipping arm to 86.07 percent— 3.93 percent shy off the 90 percent requirement to take the company private.
“In view that the offer has closed, Petronas shall return all the MISC shares which have been transferred into the Bursa Malaysia Depository Sdn Bhd Central Depository System account of Petronas to the respective holders who have accepted the offer within 14 days from the revised closing date,” the national carrier said in an announcement to the local bourse.
This brings to an end two and a half months of the oil major wrangling with minority shareholders and analysts, who wanted MISC’s shares to fetch a higher-price and secure a fairer deal.
Petronas’ initial offer was RM5.30, but after much haggling by the likes of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the oil major upped the ante, raising its offer to RM5.50.
Among minority shareholders, only the EPF and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) which owns 9.5 percent and 6.3 percent of MISC’s shares respectively, had any real ability to block the deal, as the other top 10 shareholders mainly held between one and two percent of the company.
The standoff between Petronas and the minorities seemed to have been all but over last week when the EPF threw in the towel and agreed to accept Petronas offer— more than 8 days ahead of the deadline.
Analysts were surprised and noted that it was probably a cue for other shareholders to do the same, and accept Petronas’ offer. With EPF’s acceptance, Petronas had gained 79.77 percent of MISC.
It is not clear if PNB had accepted the Petronas offer, but the total acceptance of 86.07 percent would tally with a sale by PNB.
Some analysts had earlier pegged MISC’s fair value at RM6-RM6.50 a share based on future prospects.
Petronas however has dug in as they believe they are the major backer of MISC, analysts said. Petronas chairman and CEO Shamsul Azhar Abbas told a press conference in February that if minority shareholders do not accept the offer, MISC shares may suffer a slump and all will lose.
MISC’s share price fell over percent on Friday to a low of RM5.26 before rebounding slightly to close on Bursa Malaysia at RM5.30, down 14 sen from Thursday with over seven million shares exchanged.
The shipping company’s share price has strengthened by over 30 percent so far this year.
MISC, with a market cap of RM24.5 billion, is the top shipper in Malaysia and operates the world’s second largest fleet of LNG tankers.
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