SYED MOKHTAR EYEING SUBSTANTIAL STAKE IN PDZ HOLDINGS BHD?
Is PDZ Holdings Bhd being taken-over by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, one of Malaysia's most prominent businessmen?
Word has it that Syed Mokhtar, whose flagship company is MMC Corp Bhd may acquire a substantial stake in PDZ, a shipping and logistics company.
People with knowledge on the matter said the substantial stake will pave the way for an asset injection exercise — a strategy the tycoon is well known for.
What we would like to know if this would trigger a mandatory general offer (MGO) of PDZ!
Port operation is one of MMC’s core businesses. MMC has a substantial stake in NCB Holdings Bhd, which owns Northport Malaysia Bhd and logistics outfit Kontena Nasional Bhd.
The proposed acquisition in PDZ is strategic given that Syed Mokhtar's MMC is expanding its presence in the port business.
Market experts whom we spoke to said it does make commercial sense for MMC to take over PDZ.
They said MMC may be able to gain operational and cost synergies, which will further enhance the financial performance of its port and logistics divisions.
PDZ has been gaining momentum lately after the company is believed to have won a contract worth RM600 million from a large e-commerce platform operator in China.
We don't know who PDZ has partnered with in China but the names we hear are Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd who currently dominate the China e-commerce market with platforms such as Taobao and JD.com Inc.
After this news went viral last week, the stock's daily trading volume has been building up.
PDZ rose to 23 sen this morning at around 10.30 a.m and by mid-day, the stock had some 450 million shares traded.
It was the most actively traded counter across the local bourse.
The stock surged from a low of 5 sen last month to the highest this year at 23 sen.
There is also talk that a global fund or e-commerce operator from the United States is taking a substantial stake in PDZ.
Could it be that Syed Mokhtar wants to grab PDZ first before the other parties take a bigger hand in the company?
With PDZ, Syed Mokhtar's overall logistics and port business will be further enhanced.