QL buys more shares in Lay ,ong, offer becomes mandatory

PETALING JAYA: QL Resources Bhd, which launched a conditional voluntary takeover offer for Lay Hong Bhd two weeks ago, has increased its shareholding in the target company to more than 33% of its total outstanding shares.

The voluntary offer has now become mandatory.

“The offeror wishes to confirm that the terms and conditions of the offer as set out in the notice will remain the same under the mandatory general offer,” its adviser, RHB Investment Bank Bhd, told Bursa Malaysia yesterday on behalf of QL.

QL bought an additional 3.46 million Lay Hong shares from Sept 24 to Oct 7 on the open market.

In a separate filing, Lay Hong said it would be applying to Bursa for a six-month extension from Oct 2 to March 31, 2015 for it to comply with the public shareholding spread requirement of the Main Market listing requirements.

As at Oct 1, the public shareholding spread of Lay Hong stood at 23.31%, a shortfall of 1.69% from the minimum requirement of 25% of the total listed shares.

On Sept 24, QL had launched a conditional general offer for shares in Lay Hong at a price of RM3.50 apiece. At the time, it held around 13.42 million shares, or 26.81%, in Lay Hong, making it the second largest shareholder.

The offer came after QL’s sole representative on Lay Hong’s board, Chia Mak Hooi, was not re-elected as a director at the latter’s AGM on Sept 22.