KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): The children of prominent businessman Tan Sri Robert Tan Hua Choon have triggered an unconditional mandatory general offer (MGO) in Eurospan Holdings Bhd (KL:EUROSP) after increasing their shareholdings in the loss-making furniture manufacturer to 71.8%.

Eurospan on Friday disclosed that Robert’s son, Datuk Seri Tan Han Chuan, raised his stake from 14.22% to 67.14%. Robert is widely known for being the first Casio watches distributor in Malaysia, earning him the "Casio king" moniker.

Han Chuan’s sister, Datin Tan Ching Ching owns a 4.69% stake, is deemed person acting in concert, giving the duo a collective shareholdings of 71.83%.

Eurospan disclosed that Han Chuan acquired 23.5 million ordinary shares — which represented 52.92% of the total issued shares in the company — for RM39.96 million cash or RM1.70 per share through direct business transactions.

Meanwhile, Eurospan told Bursa Malaysia that executive chairman Guan Kok Beng ceased to be the company’s substantial shareholder after disposing of all his direct and indirect stake of 23.5 million shares.

After increasing his stake, Han Chuan is obliged to extend a mandatory takeover offer to acquire all the remaining shares of the company at RM1.70 per share. The offer is deemed unconditional as the duo controls over 50% of the voting shares in Eurospan.

Nevertheless, Han Chuan intends to maintain Eurospan’s listing status on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.

The offer price matches the counter’s last price on Friday. Shares of Eurospan on Friday charted an all-time high of RM1.70, up 18 sen or 11.8% from the previous close, after merely 340,600 shares changed hands.

At its current price, the group is valued at RM75.5 million. Only 771,000 shares or 1.73% out of 44.4 million shares are considered free float, Bloomberg data showed.

Han Chuan first emerged as a substantial shareholder of the company on April 26, 2024. He is the executive director of investment holding company Jasa Kita Bhd (JKB) and the non-executive director of real estate developer JKG Land Bhd.

Eurospan is primarily involved in the manufacturing of furniture and wood-based products. It has been in the red over the past two financial years, with a net loss of RM4.6 million for the financial year ended May 31, 2023 (FY2023) and RM6.1 million for FY2022.

For the nine-month financial period ended Feb 29, 2024 (9MFY2024), the group reported a net profit of RM1.18 million, compared to a net loss of RM3.9 million, due to the disposal of properties.
 
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