KUALA LUMPUR: Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera's (LTAT) conditional voluntary takeover offer for the remaining shares or 40.58 per cent in Boustead Holdings Bhd (BHB) has fuelled interest in the stocks after it resumed trading today.

At 9.45 am, Boustead stocks lead most active lists with a more than 30 per cent or a 20 sen jump to 85.5 sen compared to yesterday's 65.5 sen.

About 71.31 million shares were transacted.

The offer is part of the move to take Boustead private.

The diversified conglomerate acknowledged that LTAT does not intend to maintain the listing status of the company.

The 85.5 sen per share offer is conditional upon the Minister of Finance's approval upon Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) recommendation and approval under Section 87 of the Financial Services Act 2013 (FSA) and Section 99 of the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (IFSA) to allow the offerer to acquire up to 100 per cent equity interest in Boustead.

It also needed a waiver from BNM from complying with Section 110 of the FSA and Section 122 of the IFSA in relation to the requirement for LTAT and/or its nominated company to be approved as a financial holding company of Affin Bank Bhd and other relevant licensed entities.

These conditions must be fulfilled within 21 days after the first closing date, as stipulated in the Rules on Takeovers, Mergers and Compulsory Acquisitions issued by Securities Commission Malaysia.

"The offer represents a significant step for LTAT in taking BHB private, allowing for greater flexibility for LTAT to implement the turnaround plan for BHB as part of its objective in ensuring the sustainability of the fund for the Malaysian Armed Forces and veterans, in line with LTAT's ongoing transformation plan,'' LTAT said in a statement.

LTAT directly holds 1.2 billion Boustead shares representing 59.42 per cent of the total issued shares in the company as of the latest practicable date.

Boustead's net profit for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022 declined to RM62 million from RM170.1 million in the previous year, impacted by impairment at Pharmaniaga Bhd.

Revenue, however, improved to RM15.11 billion from RM11.3 billion previously.

Boustead recently said impairment at the pharmaceutical division mainly arose from the writedown of slow-moving COVID-19 vaccine inventories amounting to RM552 million, in adherence with the requirements of the Malaysian Financial Reporting Standards, namely MFRS 102-Inventories.

 - BERNAMA