Ayala to buy out MCT’s minority shareholders
AYALA LAND, Inc. (ALI) has launched an offer to buy out the minority shareholders of MCT Bhd. after securing control of the Malaysian developer.
The real estate arm of the Ayala group said in a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday its subsidiary Regent Wise Investments Limited (RWIL) issued a notice of an unconditional mandatory takeover offer to the board of directors of MCT to acquire all the remaining shares of the company that are not owned by the ALI unit.
RWIL is required to undertake the offer in accordance to the Capital Markets and Services Act and the Malaysian Code on Take- Overs & Mergers after breaching the 33% trigger point.
Last week, RWIL entered into conditional share purchase agreement with MCT nonexecutive director Tan Sri Goh Ming Choo for the acquisition of his 17.24% stake in the Malaysian company for RM 202.50 million.
The deal effectively raised Ayala Land’s interest in MCT to 50.19%, cementing the Philippine real estate giant’s control over the latter.
Ayala Land kicked off the offer after the agreement became unconditional following the receipt of a waiver from Bursa Malaysia to allow for 51% of the cash consideration to be settled in tranches, MCT said in a separate filing.
Securing control of MCT will strengthen Ayala Land’s commitment to expand the developer and provide the Philippine company to participate in the favorable prospects of the real estate sector in Malaysia, its first investment in Southeast Asia.
Ayala Land bought a 9.16% interest in MCT in April 2015 then exercised its option to buy additional shares and boost its stake to 32.95% eight months later.
Under its 2020 Vision, Ayala Land is targeting a 20% annual growth rate to hit a net income of P40 billion.
For the first nine months of 2017, ALI saw an 18% increase in earnings to P17.8 billion, on the back of a 16% growth in revenues to P98.9 billion.
Shares in Ayala Land shed 30 centavos or 0.66% to close at P45.20 apiece on Monday. —