Takeover Bid for Malaysian Automaker Perodua Stalls

Malaysian conglomerate UMW Holdings runs into a roadblock in its efforts to take control of national automaker Perodua.

It had announced a takeover offer for MBM Resources, which holds a 22.58% stake in Perodua, but MBM now has twice rejected the offer.

UMW, which owns 38% of Perodua, offered 2.56 ringgit ($0.66) a share, representing a premium of 13.3% to MBM’s five-day volume weighted average market price.

MBM shareholders Med-Bumikar Mara and its wholly owned subsidiary, Central Shore, separately rejected the UMW offer for their collective 50.07% holding in MBM.

“As the (UMW) board is of the opinion that the conditional offer is reasonable, being at a premium to the traded share price…the group has therefore notified the parties of the extended validity of its offer to April 30 from March 28,” UMW says in a statement to Bursa Malaysia, the national stock exchange.

MBM says Med-Bumikar and Central Shore directors view the offer as unreasonable and will not reconsider.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, MBM also objected to UMW’s intention to talk with the brand owners of MBM’s distributorship marques on the merits of the proposed acquisition. MBM holds dealerships for the Perodua, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Volvo, Daihatsu and Hino brands.

UMW also is seeking the 10% stake in Perodua held by Permodalan Nasional. If all the dealing gets done, UMW will own 70.58% of Perodua.