KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 19): IJM Corp Bhd (KL:IJM) said officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) were present at the company’s office on Monday (Jan 19) to "obtain information as part of their process".

In a bourse statement, IJM said it is cooperating fully with the authorities and assured that its business operations "are continuing as usual".

"The company is committed to upholding strong standards of corporate governance, transparency and integrity. The company will continue to monitor the development of this matter and will make timely disclosures should there be any material updates," it said.

When contacted, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki confirmed an investigation into the company is ongoing.

The probe comes just days after IJM emerged as a takeover target for Sunway Bhd (KL:SUNWAY), which has proposed to acquire IJM in a share-and-cash deal that values the target company at slightly over RM11 billion. 

Shares of IJM fell as much as 16.4% on Monday following earlier reports that the MACC is in the midst of gathering information involving the construction firm.

The counter fell to a three-month low of RM2.34 before recouping some losses to trade at RM2.65 at 5pm, still down 15 sen or 5.36% from Friday's close. Year to date, the stock is up 16.74%.

The suspension was triggered after the counter dropped more than 15% or 15 sen from its reference price. Intra-day short-selling in the stock will resume on Tuesday (Jan 20) 8.30am, according to Bursa Malaysia’s special announcement.

In a separate response to The Edge, IJM said the intra-day short-selling suspension of its shares on Monday "is a standard Bursa Malaysia mechanism triggered by price movements".

"IJM does not comment on share price movements or market speculation. Any material developments will be announced through Bursa Malaysia," it said.

Sunway, which announced on Jan 12 its intention to acquire IJM, is offering to snap up shares in the latter for cash of 31.5 sen per share, and 501 Sunway shares for every 1,000 IJM shares held.

IJM issued a notification to its shareholders regarding Sunway’s takeover bid on Monday.

The offer to acquire all outstanding shares at RM3.15 apiece — based on the cash offer portion and Sunway's consideration of IJM shares at an issue price of RM5.65 apiece — is below most analysts’ target prices for IJM.

Nevertheless, a number of analysts have advised shareholders to accept the bid, citing an opportunity to crystallise IJM’s value and benefit from the long-term upside of the enlarged Sunway group.

The deal is also complicated by Sunway's plan to list its healthcare arm, Sunway Healthcare Holdings Bhd, on Bursa Malaysia.

Sunway intends to distribute 676.04 million Sunway Healthcare shares to existing shareholders via a dividend-in-specie, based on one Sunway Healthcare share for every 10 Sunway shares held, with the entitlement date yet to be determined.

Post-listing, Sunway’s effective stake in Sunway Healthcare will be diluted from 84% to nearly 70%. 

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Intra-day short-selling of IJM suspended as shares fall 16%