SILTERRA DEAL, ESOS LIFT DNEX SHARES

Stock closes at 92 sen yesterday, a big jump from 18 sen just six months ago

FROM a low of 18 sen six months ago, Dagang Nexchange Bhd (DNeX) has seen its share price rise steadily to more than 90 sen. Yesterday, the stock rose as much as six per cent to 98 sen following news that DNeX and its Chinese partner had sealed a firm deal to take over SilTerra Malaysia Sdn Bhd from Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

At midday break, DNeX stood at 94 sen, with 187.68 million shares changing hands at value of RM178.32 million.

It ended the day 1.65 per cent higher at 92 sen for a market capitalisation of RM2.06 billion.

The interest in DNeX was also due to the employee share option scheme (Esos) of up to 5.0 per cent of the total number of issued shares (excluding Treasury shares) proposed at its extraordinary general meeting yesterday.

The Esos is also offered to board members Tan Sri Abd Rahman Mamat, Rosli Abdullah, Ang Hsin Hsien, Datuk Johar Che Mat, Mohd Azhar Mohd Yusof, Zainal Abidin Abd Jalil and Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir.

DNeX and partner Beijing Integrated Circuit Advanced Manufacturing and High-End Equipment Equity Investment Fund Centre (CGP Fund) said on Wednesday they had signed the deal to acquire SilTerra for RM273 million.

Under the share sale and purchase agreement, DNeX will buy a 60 per cent stake in SilTerra and CGP Fund the rest.

The purchase consideration for DNeX’s stake will amount to about RM163.8 million.

DNeX and CGP Fund have also committed to a capital injection of at least RM200 million by way of subscribing to new SilTerra shares.

In a Bursa Malaysia filing on Wednesday, DNeX said it also planned to undertake a private placement to raise up to RM700.81 million to partly finance its SilTerra stake buy.

The placement entailed an issuance of up to 30 per cent of DNeX’s total number of issued shares at an issue price to be determined later.