Harimau Capital

PETALING JAYA: The offer price for Glenealy Plantations (Malaya) Bhd in a proposed privatisation exercise is too low, according to OSK Research. However, RHB Research Institute said the offer price for Lingui Developments Bhd in the same proposed privatisation exercise is fair. Last Friday, Bursa Malaysia was told that Samling Strategic Corp Sdn Bhd (SSC) had proposed to privatise Hong Kong-listed unit Samling Global Ltd (SGL), and in turn to privatise timber firm Lingui and associate company Glenealy.

The privatisation exercise would be conditional, among other things, upon the approval of the independent shareholders of SGL. SSC indicated that it expected to propose an offer price of RM1.63 per share for Lingui and RM7.50 per share for Glenealy. The offer prices were indicative only, was non-binding and may be subject to variation.

Lingui is an integrated forest resource and wood products company, with upstream and downstream timber operations, while Glenealy is involved in the operations of oil palm plantations in Sabah and Sarawak, and Indonesia. Lingui and Glenealy are controlled by the diversified Miri-based Samling Group headed by Tan Sri Yaw Teck Seng.

In a report, OSK Research said the offer price for Glenealy was a 14.5% premium over the plantation company's closing price of RM6.55 per share on Jan 19, and a 20.4% premium to its last average one-month share price. The research house said SSC would need to fork out RM400.6mil cash to buy out Glenealy's minority shareholders, as SSC holds an effective stake of 53.7% in Glenealy (by combining Lingui's 38.3% stake and SSC's own 15.4% direct stake).

OSK Research opined that the indicative offer price of RM7.50 per share for Glenealy was “too cheap” as it valued the company's enterprise value (EV) at US$8,400 (RM25,666) per planted ha for its operations in Sabah, Sarawak and Indonesia.  According to OSK Research, the sector has an average of about US$16,000 (RM48,888) EV per planted ha. “At a valuation of US$12,000 (RM36,661) EV per planted ha (recent transacted prices for Indonesian plantations) for Glenealy's planted estates, the stock would be valued at RM10.26 per share, which is 36.8% higher than the indicative offer price of RM7.50.” OSK Research advised Glenealy's shareholders to hold out for a higher offer price as there was the possibility of an outside party making a competing bid.

Meanwhile, RHB Research believed that the funding for the proposed privatisation exercises would not be an issue, although the total amount required to privatise all the three public-listed entities would be more than RM1bil. “It will not be difficult for SSC to secure funding as it would have control over RM560mil cash upon completing the privatisation exercises, and all the three companies have strong operating cashflow with minimal capital expenditure spending.”

RHB Research said the indicative offer price of RM1.63 per Lingui share seemed fair, as it valued the company at a price to earnings ratio (PER) of nine to 10 times based on a calendar year (CY) 2012's earnings per share (EPS) forecast. “The valuation is slightly higher than our current target PER of eight times for the timber sector, and comparable with its closest and more liquid peer WTK Holdings Bhd, which is currently trading at a PER of 9.5 times CY2012's EPS.”

OSK Research maintained its “buy” call on Glenealy's stock, and a fair value of RM8.23 per share based on 12 times CY2012's PER. RHB Research upgraded it call on Lingui's stock to a “trading buy” and revised its fair value to RM1.63 per share.

Glenealy's stock was the top gainer yesterday, closing 58 sen higher to RM7.13 per share while Lingui's stock closed 16 sen higher to RM1.52 per share. It was the highest share price for Glenealy in more than 14 years.

By THOMAS HUONG
huong@thestar.com.my

（吉隆坡20日訊）就在農曆新年前的最後一個交易日，東馬企業家丘志明在大馬與香港兩地所掌控的三家掛牌公司--林威（LINGUI，2011，主 板工業股）、格林尼（GNEALY，2372，主板種植股）和三林環球（SAMLING GLOBAL，3938，香港上市），今日同時宣佈暫停交易，以等待發佈可能被私有化建議的相關文告。
據大馬交易所文告顯示，林威和格林尼雙雙要求暫停交易，從1月20日停牌至1月26日。由於大年初一及初二分別落在1月23日和24日，馬股下週一和週二都沒交易。
這也意味著，林威和格林尼連續3個交易日（20日，25日，26日）暫停後，將在27日復牌。另一方面，香港交易所也將隨著農曆新年，休市至到1月26日。
《東方財經》致電林威和格林尼瞭解詳情後獲悉，由丘志明所掌控的Samling Strategic機構，已經通知林威、格林尼和三林環球的董事局，考慮對這三家公司進行私有化。「董事局確實已經收到大股東的私有化建議，但我們還未掌握詳情。」
Samling Strategic機構是林威、格林尼、三林環球的大股東，分別持有67%、15%、54%股權。林威也持有格林尼的38%股權。換句話說，丘志明在這三家公司所持有的股權都已超過50%，是控制型大股東。
值得一提的是，這很可能是2012開年以來，繼多元重工業（DRBHCOM，1619，主板工業股）表示有意私有化國家汽車控股（PROTON，5304，主板消費股）之後，又一宗備受市場矚目的私有化案件。
消息稱，林威與格林尼的財務顧問和法律顧問因考慮到農曆新年將近，該公司最早也要等到1月26日（下週四）才能宣佈私有化詳情。無論如何，該公司仍未決定將在何時召開董事局會議。
疑走漏風聲　要求停牌
針對這點，拉昔胡申研究分析員向《東方財經》透露，據他所知，林威董事局很可能會在下週三（25日）召開會議，以商討丘志明所提出的私有化建議。
他認為，林威和格林尼今天起暫停交易，很可能是因為私有化消息已經洩漏風聲，所以董事局當機立斷要求停牌來抑制股價走高。他表示，丘志明所開出的收購價若有溢價10%至15%，相信大部份股東都會接受獻議。「以目前市場行情來看，收購者不可能出價超過20%。」
截至去年11月4日，拉昔胡申研究已把林威的投資建議下調至「跑輸大市」，合理價格設在1.33令吉。此外，僑豐投行在截至去年11月3日的分析報告中，維持「買進」格林尼，合理價格鎖定7.25令吉。
林威與格林尼在停牌前（19日）價位分別是1.36令吉和6.55令吉，淨有形資產（NTA）分別為2.52令吉及5.11令吉。其中，格林尼的股價更是已做到52周新高水平。
自2011年4月6日創下1.14港元高峰後，三林環球股價在過去半年節節下退，停牌前收在0.375港元，跌幅高達67.10%。
截至去年9月26日的分析報告，瑞士信貸將三林環球的投資評級設在「跑贏大市」，目標價格設在1.10港元。《東方財經》曾嘗試聯絡瑞士信貸分析員，但基於公司內部政策，她不便向媒體發表意見。
同時，今天宣佈暫停交易至下週四的格林尼（GNEALY，2372，主板種植股）亦宣佈，以2美元的價格收購在新加坡註冊的Bright Palm私人有限公司。後者的股本僅為兩張每股1美元的股票。