KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 28): Yinson Holdings Bhd's (KL:YINSON) major shareholder confirmed that it is in preliminary talks over a potential privatisation of the oil and gas firm.
Yinson Legacy Sdn Bhd, an investment vehicle linked to Yinson executive chairman Lim Han Weng and his family, said an indicative offer price of RM2.35 per share is currently being considered should the proposal proceed, according to an exchange filing on Friday.
"We are currently engaged in preliminary and exploratory discussions” with MISC Bhd (KL:MISC), affiliates of Yinson Legacy and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the company said.
The announcement confirms The Edge's report on Aug 27 that Yinson's founding Lim family were in talks to take the company private.
Yinson owns a fleet of eight floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels and other assets cross Southeast Asia, South America and Africa. MISC, a unit of 51%-owned by the national oil company PETRONAS, has six FPSOs and six other vessels in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Brazil.
The proposed deal, if implemented, will be through a scheme of arrangement. Under the process that will require court sanction, all remaining Yinson shares not already held by Yinson Legacy and connected parties would be acquired.
The EPF, meanwhile, would retain its existing effective shareholding in Yinson.
“Discussions between the parties remain ongoing and further assessments are being undertaken,” according to Yinson Legacy’s letter to the board of Yinson. “The final offer price remains subject to change based on, among others, due diligence and commercial viability of the proposed scheme.”
The letter, signed by Lim, stressed that there is no certainty that the discussion will lead to a deal.
Lim and his family have a combined 27.68% stake in the firm while the EPF owns 17.09%. Another substantial shareholder is Retirement Fund Inc, the pension fund for civil servants better known as KWAP, holding 6.84% of Yinson.
Yinson also owns renewable energy assets with 557-megawatt capacity in operations and another 148-megawatt under construction in India, Peru and New Zealand. The company also operates electric vehicle charging stations in Malaysia and Singapore.
Shares of Yinson have gained as much as 15% this week amid news of the privatisation proposal. The stock ended Friday at RM2.15, giving the company market capitalisation of over RM6 billion.