01-08-2008: The Edge
KUALA LUMPUR: Oriental Holdings Bhd and its substantial shareholder Boon Siew Sdn Bhd (BSSB) have invited Honda Motor Co Ltd to take up a 50% stake in Oriental’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Kah Assembler Sdn Bhd (KASB) due to the liberalisation of the regional motorcycle market and the challenges posed by the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) agreement. In a statement yesterday, Oriental said Honda Motor would acquire a 50% stake comprising 1.25 million shares of RM1 each in KASB for about RM15.5 million cash on a willing buyer, willing seller basis. It said the parties had entered into a joint venture agreement. Oriental said KASB would become its associated company and funds would be injected for working capital and new shares would be issued to the respective parties. It said KASB would change its name to Boon Siew Honda Sdn Bhd or such other name as approved by the Companies Commission of Malaysia. It said the restructuring was to take advantage of the growth opportunities in the emerging markets, in particular Asia. Both Oriental and Honda Motor proposed to develop and strengthen the Honda motorcycle operations in Malaysia and enhance the competitiveness of the products through Honda Motor’s research and development support, production technology and distribution network. Honda Motor holds a 4% stake in Oriental and is a substantial shareholder of some of Oriental’s subsidiaries.
