Thursday, February 19, 2009

Halim Mazmin To Be Taken Private

Halim Mazmin has announced that it will be taken private by its owner TAN Sri Halim Mohammad.

The following is from a Dow Jones newswire


  • Halim Mazmin Major Hldrs Offer 60 Sen/Shr To Take Co Private

    KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--Halim Mazmin Bhd. (7102.KU) Wednesday said its
    major shareholders have proposed to take the company private by offering 60 sen in cash for each remaining share that they don't already own.

    In a statement to the stock exchange,
    Halim Mazmin said its major shareholders Halim Mohammad and Mazmin Noordin collectively hold a 60.79% stake in the company as of Feb 13.

    The proposal is subject to regulatory approvals being obtained, it said, adding that the proposal, if undertaken, is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2009.

The following is published on Business Times.

  • Halim Mazmin to be taken private

    By Francis Fernandez Published: 2009/02/19

    TAN Sri Halim Mohammad is taking shipping firm Halim Mazmin Bhd (7102) private in a deal valued at around RM70 million, the first time in five years a Malaysian shipowner is exchanging its listing status in favour of private ownership.

    Half a decade ago, tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan took Bumi Armada Bhd, one of Malaysia's largest owners and operators of offshore support vessels, private. (comment: I beg to differ on Bumi Armada's privatisation. It was totally different because Bumi Armada was a listed subsidiary and it was taken in a rather crude manner in a deal that utterly short-changed the minority shareholders. See
    The Pirates which siezed the Armada )

    In an interview with Business Times, Halim said his primary reason for doing so was because the outlook for the shipping sector here has turned bleak,
    and he wanted to give minority shareholders a "fair shake".

    "We only have two ships left ... both are on charter up to next year, and if the outlook for global container shipping lines continues to weaken, Halim Mazmin could end up as a company with no business to sustain its capital spread,"
    said Halim.

    He noted that
    banks are reluctant to provide fresh capital to shipowners to buy vessels under the current global economic outlook.

    "By deciding to make a capital repayment to stakeholders, I am taking a personal risk, as upon completion of the exercise, all the liabilities are mine," said Halim, in justifying the decision to keep the company private.

    The company is being advised by AmInvestment Bank, while OSK Investment Bank Bhd is the independent advisor to minority shareholders.

    Under the deal, Halim will not make a general offer. Instead, the company will use its cash to pay shareholders 60 sen a share, and then proceed to cancel the shares. Halim and his family members hold 63.57 per cent of the listed entity.

    At group level, Halim Mazmin has RM263.43 million in cash and liabilities of RM111.47 million.

    The offer is also a 50 per cent premium over the company's last traded price of 40 sen a share.

    Meanwhile, the group also announced its 2008 results yesterday. For the 12 months ended December 31 2008, Halim Mazmin at the group level registered revenue of RM32.60 million alongside a pre-tax profit of RM4.98 million.

Halim Mazmin announced its earnings last nite too: Quarterly rpt on consolidated results for the financial period ended 31/12/2008

The offer to buy up the remaining shares would cost 70 million.

  • At group level, Halim Mazmin has RM263.43 million in cash and liabilities of RM111.47 million.

How?

3 comments:

Jasonred79 said...

Well... overall, I think that this is a win-win situation for both sides. Current shareholders get a 50% upside, and the major shareholder gets some profits as he disposes of those ships and closes down the company.

Of course, the MOST fair thing to do would be to just wind down the company immediately, which could see shareholders getting more than that.

Possibly.

I need to look at the TOTAL assets and liabilities, as well as their makeup, to make my decision here.

Cash - liabilities = 150 million.
At 60 sen per share, the are valuing the company at... RM170-190 million?

So, overall, probably a fair deal, IMHO.
I wouldn't say it is extremely generous to minority shareholders, but nor is it supremely unfair either.

Moolah said...

Jason,

I wasn't talking about fair or not fair.

I was talking about a sweet deal for the boss.

To buy the rest of the shares the boss doesn't own, it would cost him just 70 million.

And what does he get for that 70 million?

Well he gets to own the whole of a company called Halim Mazmin who has some "RM263.43 million in cash and liabilities of RM111.47 million" in its balance sheet.

Sweet?

Jasonred79 said...

Hmmm... let's see. He pays RM70 million... and in return gets the remaining 37%-40% of Halim...
So he gets around 40% of 263m cash and 111m liabilities.

Doesn't sound that sweet to me, actually.
Sounds like he is paying Rm70 million to get something worth Rm60 million.

Of course, their are probably a lot of non-cash assets there which will make the deal look more attractive for him...