PETALING JAYA: Sunway Bhd is prepared to walk away from its proposed acquisition of IJM Corporation Bhd if shareholders do not accept the conglomerate’s offer by the April 6 deadline, its founder and chairman, Jeffery Cheah, said today.
Despite what he described as “noise” surrounding the deal, Cheah said the offer was made purely on commercial grounds, calling IJM an “attractive vehicle” and saying the timing was right.
“There’s no compulsion for the shareholders to sell (IJM) to us. If they sell to us, yes, fine and good, and if they don’t sell, we will walk away,” he was quoted as saying after the launch of the prospectus for Sunway Healthcare Holdings Bhd’s initial public offering.
On Jan 12, Sunway made a conditional voluntary takeover offer for the entire 3.51 billion shares in IJM at RM3.15 per share.
However, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission later launched an investigation into IJM over issues involving corporate governance, procurement processes, financial transactions, and the ownership of assets overseas estimated at about RM2.5 billion.
IJM has since denied money laundering allegations levelled against two individuals linked to it, including its chairman, Krishnan Tan.
Some quarters, including economists, have called for the proposed acquisition to be deferred pending clarity on the investigations.
Based on full acceptance and assuming no revision to the offer price, the exercise would involve a total consideration of about RM11 billion, to be satisfied through a mix of cash and new Sunway shares.
The proposed acquisition is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2026 if it proceeds.
