Sultan Johor gets back RM250m

Berjaya Assets Bhd has bought back the 20 per cent stake in Berjaya Times Square Sdn Bhd (BTS) - the owner and manager of its namesake shopping-cum-leisure mall in Kuala Lumpur - that it had sold to the Sultan of Johor two years ago, for the same price of RM250mil in cash.

The property investment and gaming company told Bursa Malaysia that it had signed a share sale agreement with Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar (pic) to buy the 150 million BTS shares at about RM1.67 each.

BTS, which is now 100 per cent owned by Berjaya Assets again, is its core subsidiary, contributing 90 per cent of the net assets (NA) of the group.

Besides the Berjaya Times Square Mall, BTS also owns and manages the Berjaya Waterfront, a hotel cum commercial complex with prime land in Johor Baru, and 76 units of office lots in Menara MSC Cyberport, Johor Baru.

The 12-level shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur, with a gross built-up area of 7.5 million sq ft on 10 acres, averages 2.5 million visitors a month and has an 84 per cent occupancy rate, according to Berjaya Assets’ latest annual report.

“The acquisition enabled Berjaya Assets to re-gain total control (100 per cent) over the BTS shares at the same consideration when DYMM Sultan Ibrahim acquired the BTS shares in 2013,” the company said.

The cash consideration for the purchase was funded through borrowings.

“As the consideration for the acquisition is funded by borrowings, the additional interest payable is about RM17.13mil per annum based on the average interest rate of 6.85 per cent per annum. The gearing of the Berjaya Assets group also increased from 0.28 times to 0.42 times,” said the company, which is 45.95 per cent owned by Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun.

Based on the latest audited NA of the BTS group as at June 30, 2015 of RM2.03bil, the acquisition resulted in an increase of about RM131.41mil to the retained earnings of the Berjaya Assets group being the excess of 20 per cent stake in the NA of the BTS group over the consideration for the acquisition.

Accordingly, the consolidated NA per Berjaya Assets share has increased from RM1.90 to RM2.02, said the company.

In another development, Sultan Ibrahim has increased his stake in mobile operator U Mobile Sdn Bhd from 10 per cent to 15 per cent, U Mobile said in a statement.

“This truly reflects DYMM Sultan Ibrahim’s confidence in the performance and future potential of U Mobile,” it said.

The biggest shareholder of U Mobile is Straits Mobile Investments Pte Ltd (a unit of ST Telemedia in Singapore) with a 49 per cent stake. Tan Sri Vincent Tan owns 6.2 per cent.

Berjaya Assets shares closed unchanged at 80 sen on Friday.