Minority shareholders advised to reject Tony Tiah’s offer

PETALING JAYA: TA Enterprise Bhd‘s (TAE) minority shareholders have been advised to reject the takeover offer by Datuk Tony Tiah Thee Kian as the offer of 66 sen share is not fair and not reasonable.

Independent adviser BDO Capital Consultants said the offer was not fair and not reasonable and accordingly, “we advise and recommend that holders to reject”.

BDO said based on the unaudited consolidated results of TAE as at March 31, 2018, the estimated fair value of the entire equity interest in TAE is about RM4.438bil to RM4.449bil which translates into an estimated fair value per share of RM2.59 to RM2.60.

“The offer price of 66 sen is lower than and represents a significant discount of RM1.93 to RM1.94 or 74.5% to 74.6% to the estimated fair value per offer share of RM2.59 to RM2.60,” it said.

On July 2, the TAE board of directors announced it had received the notice from TA Securities on behalf of the offeror to acquire all the remaining ordinary shares in TAE not already held by the offeror and parties acting in concert at 66 sen per share.

Tiah and his wife Datin Alicia Tiah co-founded the company in the 1990s.

For the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 TAE recorded a net profit of RM97.94mil, an increase from RM64.71mil made in the same period the year before. Revenue for the current quarter stood at RM232.28mil from RM255.71mil previously.

In a filing to the stock exchange, the company said the rise in profitability was mainly attributable to contribution from property investment and property development.