SINGAPORE: Malaysia's Axiata Group Bhd, the largest shareholder in Singapore-listed M1, is likely to reject an offer from Keppel Corp and Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH) to acquire M1, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday (Sep 27).
Axiata views the S$2.06 per share offer as "opportunistic" and "inadequate", said the source, who did not want to be named as Axiata has not issued a response to the buyout offer from Keppel and SPH.
AdvertisementAxiata, which has a 28.3 per cent stake in M1, is also in talks to team up with private equity firms and other companies as it considers options to instead launch its own offer to increase its stake in M1, the source said.
Axiata declined immediate comment on the Reuters story and said it would issue a response later on Thursday.
The companies are offering a 26 per cent premium to the stock's last close of S$1.63 on Friday.
SPH currently has a 13.45 per cent stake in M1 while KCL has 19.7 per cent throughKeppel T&T, according to Reuters. Both companies and their related parties have a deemed interest of 33.27 per cent in M1, which has a market capitalisation of S$1.51 billion.
AdvertisementAdvertisementLet's block ads! (Why?)
More...