KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) and other MMC Corp Bhd shareholders have given the nod to the RM2.94 billion privatisation offer by its biggest shareholder Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary.
MMC, in a Bursa Malaysia filing, said 99.75 per cent of the shareholders had voted in favour of the privatisation at its extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today.
PNB is the key decision-making party in the privatisation as the country's largest fund manager holds a 20.97 per cent stake in MMC.
Another substantial shareholder is the Employees Provident Fund, which owns 1.77 per cent.
Under the privatisation offer, at least 75 per cent of the shareholders who are present and voting must vote for the deal, with not more than 10 per cent dissenting.
"(At the EGM), the special resolution was voted for by 85 per cent in number of the disinterested shareholders and 99.7519 per cent in value to the votes attached to the ordinary shares of MMC held by the disinterested shareholders that were cast either in person or by proxy at the EGM.
"Further, 0.1867 per cent of the votes attached to all MMC shares held by the disinterested shareholders of the total voting shares of MMC voted against the special resolution," MMC said.
PNB said it was supportive of the plan as it provided an opportunity to cleanly monetise a long-held investment at a 73.6 per cent premium to the undisturbed market price.
"PNB will be reinvesting the proceeds in a manner consistent with its investment strategy of greater diversification across multiple asset classes.
"As an institutional investor, PNB strives to enhance shareholder returns for its portfolio of companies with the ultimate aim of generating sustainable returns for its 14.5 million account holders," PNB said in response to the New Straits Times' query.
Syed Mokhtar, via Seaport Terminal (Johore) Sdn Bhd, had on June 3 this year offered to take MMC private under a selective capital reduction and repayment (SCR) exercise at RM2 per share.
Seaport Terminal owns a 51.76 per cent stake or 1.58 billion MMC shares.
As at May 28 this year, MMC's issued share capital stood at RM2.34 billion comprising 3.04 billion shares.
The RM2 represented a premium ranging from 70.94 per cent to 99.54 per cent over MMC's historical share price, Seaport Terminal said in its June 3 statement.
The company also said MMC's market value at the time did not reflect its underlying value.
MMC's last traded price stood at RM1.30 before the privatisation announcement.
A day after the announcement, MMC shares hit its highest in three years, closing at RM1.69 after hitting limit up in morning session.
MIDF Research recently said the privatisation offer was appealing for a counter that was persistently trading at discounted valuation.
Over the past three days, MMC share price rebounded 20 sen or more than 12.0 per cent to close at RM1.85 on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the stock continued its climb, rising 10 sen or 5.41 per cent to RM1.95 and valuing the group at RM5.94 billion.
Since June 3, the counter has gained more than 40 per cent, and year-to-date is up by about 110 per cent.
MMC mainly operates ports such as ports of Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd, Johor Port Bhd, Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, Penang Port Sdn Bhd, Tanjung Bruas Port Sdn Bhd and Red Sea Gateway Terminal.