In today’s edition of Evening 5 — Boustead Plantations says the takeover by KLK is still pending a final decision between the transacting parties, with the cut-off date on Friday. Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal allows the reinstatement of Synergy Promenade's suit against Felda and FIC.
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00:04 Bowsted Plantations said the acquisition of a 33% stake in the company by Kuala Lumpur
00:10 Kepung or KLK from the Armed Forces Fund Board is pending a final decision between the transacting
00:16 parties, noting that the cut-off date for fulfilling the condition precedent is Friday.
00:21 Bowsted Plantations had been queried by the Stock Exchange to confirm or deny whether
00:26 the acquisition had fallen through after The Edge, citing anonymous sources, reported that
00:32 KLK's RM1.15 billion acquisition of the 33% stake had been scrapped after two deadline extensions
00:39 for the cut-off date, first from September 11 to September 22 and later to October 6.
00:46 KLK had proposed to acquire 739.2 million shares, equivalent to 33% plus one share in Bowsted
00:54 Plantations at RM1.55 a piece, as at September 29, KLK had accumulated 69.29 million shares or
01:04 a 3% stake from the open market. Shares of Bowsted Plantations last closed at RM1.27,
01:10 while KLK's shares were last traded at RM21.48.
01:20 The Court of Appeal unanimously allowed an appeal by the master developer of the Kuala
01:25 Lumpur Vertical City Project, Synergy Promenade, to reinstate its suit against
01:30 Felder and Felder Investments Corporation regarding the vacant possession of Felder
01:35 land along Jalan Semarang. The appellate court also dismissed Synergy Promenade's appeal to
01:41 obtain a summary judgment and ordered that the suit be heard along with Felder's legal action
01:46 against its former chairmen Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad and Tan Sri Shahril Abdul Samad,
01:52 Synergy Promenade and 17 others. In the suit brought by Felder, the defendants were alleged
01:57 to have jointly conspired for the plundering of the two Felder entities through unlawful means.
02:03 The defendants, however, claimed the development had the full approval of the minister responsible
02:08 for Felder at the time. Judge Dato' Azizah Nawawi, who led the Court of Appeal's three-member bench,
02:14 said this pointed to a triable issue of fact and so the court decided that the matter will go to trial.
02:20 The Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce has raised concerns over the decision of Penang
02:31 Development Corp or PDC to sell 558.96 acres of land in Batu Kawan Industrial Park II
02:38 to Sunway's 70% owned UMEC land for RM646.02 million. The Chamber of Commerce's president,
02:46 Dato' Sri Hong Yam Wah, said the deal is believed to have significantly undervalued the land.
02:52 He highlighted that the industrial land in the park was made available on the open market in May
02:57 for RM80 per square foot, with parcels as small as five acres each. In this regard,
03:04 he questioned whether the selling price of RM26.53 per square foot to UMEC land is reasonable
03:11 and whether the four-year payment term for the deal is appropriate. During a press conference
03:16 today, he also asked why 558.96 acres of valuable industrial land was sold to a private company
03:23 without an open tender. Among others, Hong noted that PDC's practice of compulsorily acquiring
03:30 private land through the Land Acquisition Act and then selling it to private developers could be
03:35 legally challenged by the original landowners, and urged Chief Minister Chow Kwon Yew,
03:40 who is PDC's chairman, to provide a public explanation.
03:44 AirAsia has secured a five-year term loan of up to US$150 million, approximately RM708.46 million,
03:58 which will be used to fund its aircraft and engines maintenance and working capital.
04:03 In a BORS filing today, Capital A said its aviation arm accepted the term loan from a
04:09 financial institution. The facility was secured by a corporate guarantee from Capital A, which
04:15 will remain throughout the duration of the term loan. It said its board, having considered all
04:20 aspects of the term loan, is in the opinion that the term loan is in the ordinary course of business
04:26 and is in the best interest of the group. Capital A's shares closed down 1.54% to 96 cent,
04:33 valuing the group at RM4.05 billion.
04:36 SWS Capital announced several boardroom changes, including the redesignation of its
04:47 non-executive director, Datuk Chua Hyok Wee, to group managing director of the furniture and
04:52 plasticware manufacturer, Effective Immediately. Chua replaces Teoh Han Chuan, who has been
04:58 redesignated from managing director to executive deputy chairman. Chua is also currently the group
05:04 managing director of Penang-based Mua Ban Lee Group. SWS Capital also announced it is reassigning
05:11 Chua's cousin, Chua Kang Seng, from non-executive director to an executive role. The latter is
05:17 currently executive director of Mua Ban Lee Group. The cousins joined the board of SWS Capital in
05:23 August this year. This follows their emergence as substantial shareholders of the company
05:29 after Mua Ban Lee Group accumulated shares equivalent to a 20.76% stake in SWS Capital.
05:36 At the close, Mua Ban Lee Group's shares rose 2.1% to 49 cent,
05:41 while shares in SWS Capital settled 1.5% lower at 32 cent.
05:46 [MUSIC]