ASAS DUNIA BERHAD (“ASAS”)

Its substantial shareholders have proposed a voluntary general offer worth RM190.9 million or RM1.70 per share for the property developer.

The proposed offer was undertaken by ASAS’ executive chairman Datuk Tony Chan Leong Foon and other shareholders Tony Chan Holdings Sdn Bhd, Tony Chan Capital Sdn Bhd, Sprintex Ltd and Best Conditions Ltd who collectively owned about 41.13% of the company.

The offer was for the remaining 58.87% stake or 112.31 million shares in ASAS that the offerers did not own.

The takeover offer price of RM1.70 was seven sen above the last closing price of 1-day before the announcement was made. The joint offerors did not have intention to maintain the listing of ASAS.

MSWG’s COMMENTS:

ASAS owns a large tract of land in Batu Kawan where the Second Bridge of Penang is connected to. The current net assets (“NA”) of ASAS is RM2.12 per share. There has been no revaluation performed on most of the land bank owned by the Group dated as far back as 1995/96.

The Managing Director of ASAS, Datuk Jerry Chan, also one of the offerors, mentioned in the news report dated June 2010 that the asking price for land in the area where the Group’s 600 acres land bank was situated near Penang Second Crossing had tripled from what it was two years ago. In addition, ASAS is one of the few with the concept of “partial build, then sell” where only projects that have reached at least 50% construction stage will be open for sale. This practice speaks volume about the strong financial position of the Group and with a strong net cash position (with zero borrowings).

In view of the above, among the issues that warrant consideration from parties concerned is the revaluation of properties which have not been revalued for a long time.