Aspen hopes to ink RM550 mil RTO agreement with Yi-Lai by next week

BUTTERWORTH (July 28): Penang-based property player Aspen Vision Development Sdn Bhd is hoping to ink a share sale agreement for its RM550 million reverse takeover (RTO) of ceramic and homogenous tiles maker Yi-Lai Bhd by next week, which will pave the way for the former to be listed on Bursa Malaysia.

Aspen chief executive officer Datuk M Murly (pictured) said all the formalities for the RTO process have been completed, and it is now only pending the green light from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), which the group hopes to obtain by this week.

"The date to enter into a definitive agreement was extended twice (to June 30 and then to July 31) from the date (in) the heads of agreement that was inked on Feb 24.

"The extension was because we were awaiting the approval from the SC, which we would need to enter into a [definitive] share sale agreement ... we are expecting to hear from the SC this week, and we will make the necessary announcement on this, hopefully by next week," he told reporters after the official opening ceremony of the Aspen Vision City Sales Gallery in Batu Kawan today.

Murly said the group is confident on obtaining the approval from the SC for its listing.

"I think we are fairly confident, based on the Aspen group's achievements in the past three and a half years which has been encouraging.

"We initially had plans to list on the Catalist Board of the Singapore Exchange; but we were advised to do it locally, so we hope the authorities would give due consideration on this (the group's application for Bursa Malaysia listing)," he said.

The group's biggest project to date is Aspen Vision City, a 245-acre freehold mixed use development in Bandar Cassia, Batu Kawan, with a gross development value of RM8 billion.

The project is being developed by Aspen Vision Land Sdn Bhd, which is owned by Aspen and Ikano Pte Ltd, the operator of Swedish furniture store IKEA in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Yi-Lai said the RM550 million purchase consideration for the RTO will be settled via the issuance of 450 million new Yi-Lai shares at an issue price of RM1, while the remaining RM100 million will be paid in cash.

At 3pm today, Yi-Lai shares were unchanged at 84 sen, for a market capitalisation of RM132.98 million. — theedgemarkets.com

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