Shareholders to vote against Malaysia's KFC take-private bid

According to Reuters, some shareholders have already said they plan to oppose the bid when it is put to a vote on November 5-6, complaining that the company has been badly undervalued. 

The original bid for KFC Holdings (Malaysia) and QSR Brands was made on December 14 last year by Johor Corporation, the state's investment arm, and CVC. The Employee Provident Fund joined the consortium in May.

The proposal was to privatize QSR and KFC, paying MYR6.80 per share and MYR4 per share, respectively. This represented a 20% premium to QSR's average price in the three months up to December 13 and an 18% premium on KFC's average price over the same period. The QSR bid is also higher than the MYR6.70 offer made by The Carlyle Group a year ago, which was rejected.

It was only in October that the companies called their extraordinary general meetings. The delay was not explained but opposing shareholders now argue the intervening period is sufficiently long that the bid price no longer represents the true value of the companies following a retail sector boom.

The firms' respective share prices remain approximately equal to last December's bid price.

The consortium requires 75% backing from shareholders if it is to proceed with the transaction. Johor Corporation is the largest shareholder in both KFC and QSR but is not eligible to vote because it made the offer.

QSR controls more than 620 KFC restaurants in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia and India; 270 Pizza Hut restaurants in Malaysia and Singapore; and more than 40 RasaMas restaurants in Malaysia and Brunei.

 

 

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• Topics
• Consumer
• South Asia
• Buyout
• Buyouts
• GPs
• Malaysia
• CVC Capital Partners
• Consumer
• buyout