KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11):  Exsim Borneo Sdn Bhd and a person acting in concert have proposed to acquire a 70% stake in Sabah-based property developer WMG Holdings Bhd (KL:WMG) at 16.5 sen per share, and make a general offer for the remaining shares at the same price.

The offer price represents a discount of 70% to WMG’s closing price of 54.5 sen on Friday.

Exsim Borneo, which is owned by Lim Aik Hoe and his brothers Aik Kiat and Aik Fu, have entered into an agreement with Syarikat Kretam (Far East) Holdings Sdn Bhd to acquire a 52.5% stake in WMG for a cash  consideration of RM75.12 million, according to the notice of mandatory takeover offer (MTO) issued on behalf of Exsim by AmInvestment Bank Bhd.

Simultaneously, Ben Kong Chung Vui, a person acting in concert with Exsim, proposed to buy an additional 17.5% in WMG from Syarikat Kretam for RM25 million.

The parties intend to make a MTO for the remaining shares not owned by them at 16.5 sen per share. In addition, they also intend to acquire the remaining redeemable convertible preference shares (RCPS) in WMG not already owned by them for 33 sen per RCPS. As at Sept 30, WMG has a total of 155 million RCPS which are held by sole holder Syarikat Kretam, according to the takeover notice.

The parties intend to maintain the listing status of WMG on the Main Market of Bursa Securities, the notice said.

Exsim Borneo is a a subsidiary of Exsim Development Sdn Bhd, whose shareholders — the Lim brothers — also control Exsim Hospitality Holdings Sdn Bhd.

In March, Exsim Hospitality bought a a 65.9% stake in Pan Malaysia Holdings Bhd for a cash consideration of RM36.7 million.

Shares of WMG rose half a sen or 0.93% at 54.5 sen on Friday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM461.2 million.