February 04, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 – Shares of Malaysia’s MISC Bhd rose as much as 17 per cent after the shipping firm’s major shareholder Petroliam Nasional Bhd made an RM8.8 billion buyout offer, equal to RM5.30 per share. MISC was 17.3 per cent higher at RM5.22 per share, outperforming the country’s benchmark stock index’s 0.54 per cent rise.
Trading in MISC has been suspended since the offer was made last Thursday. Petronas, Malaysia’s state oil company, owns 62.7 per cent of the shipping firm.
The deal is the latest in a slew of privatisation offers in Malaysia. Tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary in December offered to buy out commodities firm Tradewinds Bhd in a deal worth RM1.5 billion, or RM9.30 per share.
Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, a Malaysian lender controlled by the country’s sixth-richest man Quek Leng Chan, in January offered to take its 79 per cent-owned investment banking arm Hong Leong Capital Bhd private. – Reuters
