KUCHING: Kim Hin Industry Bhd’s controlling shareholders has extended the closing date of their 85sen per share offer to minority shareholders in their bid to take the ceramic tile manufacturer private by one week to August 22 from August 15 as the acceptance level under the offer so far has been low.
Controlling shareholders, Kim Hin (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (KHSB) and company’s executive chairman Chua Seng Huat (joint offerors) managed to acquire 5,675,123 (4.05%) via valid acceptance from July 25 (date of despatch of the offer document) to August 13.
In addition, the joint offerors also acquired 1.27 million shares (0.90%) from the open market.
This brings to total the number of shares held by the joint offerors as at August 13 to about 94.677 million (67.51%), according to UOB Kay Hian (M) Sdn Bhd, the principal adviser to the joint offerors, in a media release.
The joint offerors have also received acceptances of 503,150 offer shares (0.36%), which are subject to verification.
On July 4, 2025, the joint offerors launched an 85sen a share unconditional voluntary take-over for the remaining 52.94 million shares or 37.75 per cent in Kim Hin which they do not already own. At that time, they held 87.3 million shares (62.25%) of Kim Hin’s total issued shares of about 140.24 million shares (excluding treasury shares).
“Save for the extended closing date, all other details, terms and conditions of the offer as set out in the offer document remain unchanged.
“The offer will remain open for acceptance until 5pm (Malaysia time) on the extended closing date, unless further extended in accordance with the provisions of the Rules or as the joint offerors may decide and as may be announced by the principal adviser, on behalf of the joint offerors, no later than 2 days before the extended closing date,” said UOB.
UOB advises the holders of the offer shares to consider the contents of the independent advice circular and the recommendations therein before deciding whether to accept or reject the offer.
Independent adviser NewParadigm Securities Sdn Bhd (appointed by Kim Hin) has advised minority shareholders and non-interest directors to reject the privatisation attempt as the 85sen per share offer is “not fair” and “not reasonable” as it is far below the company’s fair value, notwithstanding the offer price is at a premium to the historical market prices of Kim Him shares in the past two years.
According to New Paradigm, based on the asset-based valuation methodology using the revalued net asset value (RNAV) of Kim Hin share, the offer price represents (i) a discount of RM2.25 or approximately 72.58 per cent to the estimated value per Kim Hin share of RM3.10, and (ii) a discount of RM1.03 or approximately 54.79 per cent to the latest unaudited net asset per Kim Hin share of RM1.88 as at March 31, 2025.
Laureclap Sdn Bhd, which was appointed in April 2025 to undertake a valuation of Kim Hin’s property assets, comes ip with a net revaluation surplus of about RM170.72 million on 20 investment properties in Malaysia and Singapore.
NewParadigm said although Kim Hin shares were relatively inactively traded and illiquid when compared to the FBM KLCI Index as well as the intention of the joint offerors to not maintain the listing status of the company, the public shareholding spread of Kim Hin (29.51%) is still in compliance with the public spread requirement and remains traded on Bursa Malaysia.
Kim Hin’s non-interested directors — Datuk Sim Kheng Boon, Khoo Soon Keng and Aw Tai Hui — agreed with NewParadigm’s findings and have also recommended minority shareholders to reject the offer price of 85sen per share.
If they succeed in achieving the 90 per cent threshold of the company’s total number of shares, the joint offerors intend to compulsory acquire the remaining shares and proceed with the delisting of Kim Hin from Bursa Malaysia.
If they fall short of the 90 per cent target but reach the more than 75 per cent mark, the joint offerors intend to explore an “appropriate route” to privatise the company, subject to obtaining the necessary funding, according to UOB. They have not, however, indicated what the “appropriate route” would be.
