Goldis to complete privatisation of IGB in March

PETALING JAYA: Goldis Bhd is expected to complete the privatisation of IGB Corp Bhd in early March this year, following which both companies will be consolidated into a single listed company.

Goldis, which is the parent company of IGB Corp, will then delist the latter from the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia by mid-March.

In a filing with the stock exchange, Goldis said that the High Court has sanctioned Goldis’ proposed acquisition of IGB Corp’s shares not already owned by the company.

On Jan 9, IGB Corp announced that Goldis’ proposal is now legally effective, after the High Court order was lodged with the Registrar of Companies Malaysia.

Goldis, which is principally involved in property investment, owns 73.4% in IGB Corp. The plan to privatise IGB Corp received near unanimous approval from the shareholders of IGB Corp, with 99.34% of them voting for the proposal.

Upon the completion of the takeover, Goldis plans to change its name to IGB Bhd to reflect the larger, combined group.

This is the first time Goldis has attempted to take IGB Corp private, following two other restructuring attempts in recent years.

In May 2013, Goldis proposed a merger exercise with IGB Corp, in which it proposed to distribute the shares it held in the company to shareholders. The exercise did not take place. Over a year later in August 2014, Goldis proposed a voluntary general offer, with the objective of increasing its stake to over 50%. Goldis then ended up with a 73.32% stake in IGB Corp.

In February last year, Goldis proposed the current takeover of IGB Corp at RM3 per share offering shareholders of the property developer three options, at RM3 per share.

The three options are – either take all cash, a combination of cash of 90 sen and RM2.10 in Goldis shares, or receive cash of 36 sen and new redeemable convertible cumulative preference shares.