KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 29): Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp) said the group is seeking an extension of the deadline to complete the transfer of its shares in its waste management unit, Berjaya Enviro Holdings Sdn Bhd (BEnviro), to Naza Corp Holdings Bhd.
In a bourse filing on Friday, BCorp said BEnviro had sought from the Public Private Partnership Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department and Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia (SEDA) an extension of time from Dec 31 to a later date, or after obtaining approval from the Energy Commission of Malaysia.
BCorp had announced the sale of its 100% stake in BEnviro to Naza Corp for RM700 million cash in July.
The price tag is based on a valuation of forward 18.4 times price-earnings ratio (PE) on the back of an estimated three-year profit guarantee of RM38 million per annum and price-to-book value of 3.6 times.
However, BCorp is selling BEnviro at a PE of more than 45 times based on BEnviro’s pre-tax profit of RM15.4 million on the back of RM47.7 million in revenue in 2022.
BCorp had acquired the 40% stake it did not own in BEnviro from KUB Malaysia Bhd for RM80 million cash in 2020. Based on back-of-the-envelope calculations then, the deal valued BEnviro at almost RM200 million, indicating that BCorp had raked in more than RM500 million from the disposal of the asset.
BCorp said it would need to obtain its shareholders' approval for the disposal of BEnviro.
The disposal is deemed a related party transaction, as Tan’s daughter Chryseis is married to businessman SM Faliq Nasimuddin, who is the deputy group executive chairman of Naza Corp.
BCorp's share price closed up 0.5 sen or 1.75% to 29 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM1.73 billion.