By Khairie Hisyam
Liew Kee Sin is exercising his last put option to sell his last block of SP Setia shares, which should net him RM267.45 million in total.
Liew Kee Sin
In a regulatory filing today, SP Setia said it had received notice from Liew that the latter is exercising the option to sell to sell his remaining 67.79 million shares or 2.76% in SP Setia to Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) as per the management agreement signed on Jan 20, 2012.
The agreement stipulated that Liew is entitled to sell the shares at RM3.95 per share to PNB and the last put option would have been due in April this year, incidentally Liew’s last month at SP Setia as president and chief executive officer.
When the agreement was entered into, Liew had 11.27% or 200.5 million shares in the property developer.
To recap, in 2011 PNB launched a takeover of SP Setia, offering RM3.90 per share after crossing the 33% threshold via direct and indirect holdings.
However SP Setia board thought the offer fundamentally undervalued the company and reportedly thought RM4.20 would be a more accurate reflection of SP Setia’s value.
The offer was then raised to RM3.95 per share by January 2012 or some RM6 billion to increase its stake in SP Setia to just below 70% via its two funds Yayasan Pelaburan Bumiputra and Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera.
In the aftermath, PNB struck a deal with Liew whereby the latter would stay for three years following the takeover — which meant March 2015 at the latest — in addition to having the option to sell his shares at RM3.95 per share to PNB in several tranches.
However in January Liew announced his resignation after 18 years with the company. His last day would be April 30, 2014, leaving the company about one year before the three-year period would have ended.
“With my children all growing up and starting out on their own career paths, I am looking forward to spending more time with them, mentoring and guiding them,” said Liew of his resignation.
Interestingly news of Liew’s retirement comes two weeks after Eco World Development Holdings, a company he is closely linked to, saw a surge in its share price leading to an unusual market activity (UMA) query from Bursa Malaysia.
Eco World Development Holdings was renamed from Focal Aims Holdings Bhd following a reverse take-over exercise that saw Eco World Development Holdings Sdn Bhd make an offer of RM230.7 million for 65% of the company’s shares — among the purchasers is Liew Tian Xiong, the elder Liew’s son whose purchase is financed by the elder Liew and his wife.
This sparked talk of whether the elder Liew is conflicted between his position at the helm of SP Setia and his part in Eco World’s manoeuvres, especially given market speculation that Eco World is Liew’s personal vehicle as a fresh start after leaving SP Setia.
However, when pressed by KiniBiz in September Liew said: “I want to retire, enough of work!”
KiniBiz previously examined Eco World’s rapid emergence in a three-part series here.
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