KUALA LUMPUR: Non-bank lender Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) is expected to ink a sales and purchase agreement on its proposed merger with Asian Finance Bank Bhd (AFB) today, according to sources.
“The two parties are also understood to be meeting analysts today as well,” said one source.
On Aug 18, MBSB received notification from Bank Negara Malaysia that the finance minister had granted approval for its proposed acquisition of a 100% interest in AFB pursuant to the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013.
A merger of the two entities would create the country’s second-largest stand-alone Islamic bank with total assets of RM47.81 billion, after Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd.
The proposed acquisition of AFB is MBSB’s third attempt to acquire an Islamic banking unit, which is in line with its goal to become a full-fledged Islamic bank as opposed to its current status as a non-bank lender.
Its two previous failed attempts to acquire Bank Mualamat Malaysia Bhd and the Islamic banking units of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and RHB Capital Bhd were reportedly due to disagreement over pricing valuation.
Once merged, the entity will be one of only three listed syariah-compliant companies in the financial services sector, with the other two being BIMB Holdings Bhd and Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd.
The Edge Malaysia weekly in its June 12 issue cited sources as saying that the proposed merger involves MBSB buying AFB’s assets and liabilities in a deal that values the latter at a price-to-book value of between 1.2 times and 1.5 times. The total consideration is about RM650 million, with more than half of that comprising a cash portion.
The weekly’s Sept 4 issue reported MBSB president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Ahmad Zaini Othman as saying that the non-bank lender has taken steps to convert its conventional loans to Islamic.
He shared that as at June 30, only about 15% of MBSB’s RM36.06 billion gross financing/loan book was conventional. They comprised mortgages and corporate loans. The group’s personal financing business, which makes up about 63% of its financing book, is 100% Islamic.
The Employees Provident Fund is the largest shareholder of MBSB with a 65.6% stake. Last Friday, MBSB shares rose one sen or 0.91% to RM1.11, with a market capitalisation of RM6.5 billion.
Reference is made to the Company’s announcements dated 21 December 2016, 19 June 2017 and 18 August 2017 in relation to the Proposed Merger. Unless otherwise stated, the terms used herein shall have the same meaning as defined in the said announcements.
On behalf of the Board, RHB Investment Bank Berhad and AmInvestment Bank Berhad wish to announce that MBSB had on 6 November 2017 entered into a conditional share purchase agreement with the shareholders of AFB, namely Qatar Islamic Bank, Financial Assets Bahrain W.L.L, RUSD Investment Bank Inc and Tadhamon International Islamic Bank (collectively, the “Vendors”), for the proposed acquisition by MBSB of the entire equity interest in AFB from the Vendors for an aggregate purchase consideration of RM644,952,807.66 (“Purchase Consideration”). The Purchase Consideration will be satisfied through a combination of cash amounting to RM396,894,036.26 and the issuance of 225,507,974 new ordinary shares in MBSB (“Consideration Share(s)”) at an issue price of RM1.10 per Consideration Share.
Further details on the Proposed Merger are set out in the attachments below.
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Posted by maxlee0508 > 2017-11-06 11:57 | Report Abuse
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