KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 28): George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd said it has accepted Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd's (MRCB) RM53 million cash offer for its 50% stake in MRCB George Kent Sdn Bhd (MRCBGK).

MRCBGK is a 50:50 joint venture (JV) company between MRCB and George Kent and is the turnkey contractor of the RM16.6 billion Light Rail Transit Line 3 (LRT3) project.

MRCB offered to buy George Kent's stake, or sell its own 50% stake to George Kent, on Sept 14.

This was after an arbitration in May ruled in favour of MRCB in a dispute about financing options for the JV company. On Monday, MRCB received a final award amounting to RM2.3 million.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, Goerge Kent said it will use the RM53 million proceeds from the sale of its 50% stake as working capital.

While the sale has a loss on disposal of RM4.24 million, George Kent said it has recovered its original cost of investment and benefitted from share of profit contribution previously.

It added that the transaction will free it from any exposure to future liabilities in respect of the LRT3 project, which is valued at RM11.4 billion. The project is 60% completed to-date, it said.

Shares of George Kent settled unchanged at 67.5 sen, valuing the group at RM377.41 million. MRCB shares slid half a sen or 1.28% to 38.5 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM1.7 billion.