KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan today said that Armed Forces Fund Board's (LTAT) offer to takeover Boustead Holdings Berhad's (BHB) remaining shares was made on the business interest of both sides.

He said the move to delist BHB from the share market is not permanent as the board might relist BHB again once the company is in better shape.

"We made the decision based on commercial interest ... on what is good for both BHB and LTAT.

"Because in the process of restructuring the business model, we can always relist it again, there are companies that went in and out of the market many times.

"And this takeover doesn’t mean we are delisting BHB from the market forever,” Mohamad explained during a press conference here after the annual announcement of LTAT’s dividend rate.

He said there are benefits for LTAT to become the sole shareholder of BHB in the delisting process as it will involve fewer shareholders.

"It’s better if we delist it ourselves because sometimes being a listed company there are so many issues and so many compliances, even one or two cents we have to go back to the shareholders.

"Because this is a major exercise we want to undertake so it’s compulsory and it’s important for us to delist the BHB first and restructure and then see how we can offer back the public a better and healthier company with a good balance sheet,” he added.

On March 2, BHB received a conditional voluntary takeover offer from LTAT to acquire all the remaining 822.51 million (40.58 per cent) ordinary shares in BHB for 85.5 sen per share.

At the end of Q4 2022, BHB’s subsidiary company Practice Note-17 Pharmaniaga Bhd, in which BHB owns 52 per cent-stake, suffered a net loss of RM644.4 million amid an RM552.3 million provision for slow-moving Covid-19 vaccine inventory.

Furthermore, BHB’s 65 per cent unit Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd (BHIC) has been struggling to deliver an RM9.13 billion contract awarded in 2011 to build six littoral combat ships.