KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 — Unisem (M) Bhd has received a pre-conditional announcement of a takeover offer from Executive Chairman and Managing Director John Chia Sin Tet and Chinese investors.
The offer is made at RM3.30 per share for 550.56 million shares, representing 75.72 per cent of Unisem, worth RM1.82 billion.
Following the trading suspension of Unisem’s shares today and based on the last traded price of RM2.97 on Sept 7, the offer represented an 11.11 per cent premium.
The Chinese offerors are Hutantian Electronics Group Ltd and Huatian Technology Sdn Bhd, which are special purpose vehicles set up by Tianshui Huatian Technology Co Ltd (TSHT) and Tianshui Huatian Electronics Group Co Ltd to undertake the offer.
The Malaysian offerors comprising Chia, his son, Alexander Chia Jhet-Wern, and his companies, Jayvest Holdings Sdn Bhd and SCQ Industries Sdn Bhd, are also the single largest shareholder of Unisem holding an aggregate 176.52 million shares or 24.28 per cent equity interest.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Unisem said the pre-conditions to the offer included approval by TSHT shareholders and approvals from Chinese regulatory bodies including the Gansu Department of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
“The offer will not be made unless and until the pre-conditions have been satisfied no later than six months from the date of collaboration agreement or a later date mutually agreed in writing between TSHT and the Malaysian offerors.
“This pre-conditional offer announcement does not amount to a firm intention to make the offer by the joint offerors and there can be no certainty that the offer will be made even if the pre-conditions are satisfied,” it said.
Unisem said the joint offerers intended to maintain the group’s listing status.
The semiconductor manufacturer said the group’s business would complement TSHT’s, enabling the Chinese company to further strengthen its global presence by leveraging on Unisem’s relationships with its European and North American customers.
“TSHT, being essentially China-centric in terms of operations and customers, will benefit from a collaboration with us in terms of our geographic spread and different customer profile,” Unisem added. — Bernama
