KUALA
LUMPUR: Masterskill Education Group Bhd has aborted its plan to dispose
of its Cheras, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Johor campuses, after its
board was unable to mutually agree on a revised sale consideration based
on the property valuation done by independent valuer Cheston
International (KL) Sdn Bhd.
Cheston had ascribed an indicative market value of RM110.4 million for the properties, higher than the initial indicative sale consideration of RM75 million offered by the group’s major shareholder Siva Kumar M Jeyapalan.
It is understood that the deal was aborted due to the valuation being too high. In a Bursa Malaysia filing yesterday, Masterskill said it would seek alternatives to implementing its asset light strategy and raising funds for the group.
Siva Kumar first proposed to make an offer for the four campuses on Nov 6, and then lease them back to the group for 10 years, with the option to extend for another five years.
Following that, on Nov 10, education provider SMRT Holdings Bhd and Creador II LLC announced the proposed acquisition of a 32.9% equity interest in Masterskill belonging to Siva Kumar at 60 sen apiece.
The acquisition will be done together with Rahpia Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Creador. SMRT will take up a maximum of 23% interest in Masterskill while Rahpia will acquire the remainder of Siva Kumar’s stake.
Rahpia is an existing shareholder of Masterskill with a 16.26% stake while Creador founder Brahmal Vasudevan holds a 6.15% stake in SMRT. The stock shed 0.5 sen or 0.8% to close at 59.5 sen yesterday, with a market capitalisation of RM223.77 million.
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 17, 2014.
Cheston had ascribed an indicative market value of RM110.4 million for the properties, higher than the initial indicative sale consideration of RM75 million offered by the group’s major shareholder Siva Kumar M Jeyapalan.
It is understood that the deal was aborted due to the valuation being too high. In a Bursa Malaysia filing yesterday, Masterskill said it would seek alternatives to implementing its asset light strategy and raising funds for the group.
Siva Kumar first proposed to make an offer for the four campuses on Nov 6, and then lease them back to the group for 10 years, with the option to extend for another five years.
Following that, on Nov 10, education provider SMRT Holdings Bhd and Creador II LLC announced the proposed acquisition of a 32.9% equity interest in Masterskill belonging to Siva Kumar at 60 sen apiece.
The acquisition will be done together with Rahpia Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Creador. SMRT will take up a maximum of 23% interest in Masterskill while Rahpia will acquire the remainder of Siva Kumar’s stake.
Rahpia is an existing shareholder of Masterskill with a 16.26% stake while Creador founder Brahmal Vasudevan holds a 6.15% stake in SMRT. The stock shed 0.5 sen or 0.8% to close at 59.5 sen yesterday, with a market capitalisation of RM223.77 million.
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 17, 2014.
