I Do..!!

23rd June 2005.

That was when Intan Utilities proudly announced "I Do.." to the Malaysian stock market. In a corporate fund raising exercise, Intan told the world it was buying Berjaya Sports Toto shares from Berjaya Land in a 1.15 bil ringgit cash deal or 3.60 per share.

here is a snippet from xfn asia on the announcement:

BLAND TO SELL 320 MLN SHARES IN BTOTO TO INTAN FOR 1.15 BLN RGT

(XFN-ASIA) - Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand) said it is selling 320 mln shares in unit Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) to Intan Utilities Bhd for 1.15 bln rgt cash or 3.60 rgt a share.

... BLand said that proceeds raised from the share sale in BToto will be used to repay bank borrowings as well as for partial repayment of an amount owed to BToto of 512 mln rgt.It added that upon completion of the proposed disposal, which is expected to be completed in six months, the company will still owe BToto about 189 mln rgt."

Though the board continues to believe in the long-term potential of BToto, the board has decided to undertake the proposed disposal as it allows BLand to realize the value of its investment in BToto for a cash consideration, which will be utilized to repay the amount owing to BToto and improve its gearing by repaying its bank borrowings," BLand said.

Last night, Jan 25th 2006, Intan decided to do a flop on it and boldly announces that it is aborting plans to buy BToto shares .

The "I Do.." has became "I Don't.."!

Isn't it simply incredible? (here is some interesting comments from another blogger on this isue: Bjland-Bjtoto-Intan)

Me?

I find it very strange that they can be doing such a corporate flip-flop.

What is even more strange was that Intan was hardly a profitable company when it made the initial announcement last June 2005.

And what is even more strange is the huge run-up in Intan stock price. From a stock that was trading in a trading range of 1.20-1.50, this stock saw a dramatic change in fortune. With the 3.60 offer, Intan instantly flew up, up and awayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

And I wonder... how many profited from the run-up in Intan's stock price?

And I wonder... if anyone from Intan Utilities took advantage of this run-up by disposing their shares?

And I wonder... if anyone will lose mega bucks from this sudden flip-flop? After all, there was an arbitrage opportunity to make money due to the price variance between the traded price and the offer price back in June 2005.