EPF abstains from voting on IJM takeover offer

2026-03-27 - 12:51

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is IJM’s largest shareholder with a 20.5% stake. PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) abstained from voting on Sunway Bhd’s proposed takeover of IJM Corp Bhd at the construction group’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) yesterday. The retirement fund, which is IJM’s largest shareholder with a 20.5% stake, revealed it had voluntarily sat out the voting. “EPF voluntarily abstained from voting in view of EPF holding shares in both Sunway and IJM,” it explained in its voting disclosure on its website today. The pension fund is a substantial shareholder in Sunway with a 9.48% interest. EPF CEO Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn said last month that the fund would wait for the independent advice circular (IAC) before deciding on whether to accept Sunway’s offer. Despite abstaining from yesterday’s vote, EPF will ultimately have to decide whether to accept or reject Sunway’s offer. EPF’s position on the voluntary takeover offer (VTO) is in stark contrast to that of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), IJM’s second-largest shareholder with a 13.3% stake. On March 16, PNB announced it had rejected the takeover offer after the IAC concluded the proposal is “not fair and not reasonable”. It cited the offer’s valuation, small cash component as well as IJM’s dividend prospects and long-term growth potential for its rejection. PNB had also stressed its decision should not be interpreted as guidance for other shareholders. Sunway launched its VTO in January to acquire all of the 3.5 billion IJM shares at RM3.15 per share. The offer price would be satisfied via 10% cash and 90% in the form of new Sunway shares at an issue price of RM5.65 each. In the IAC, M&A Securities had valued IJM at RM5.84 to RM6.48 per share, implying Sunway’s RM3.15 offer represents a 46.1% to 51.4% discount. It also estimated IJM’s net asset value at RM2.93 per share as at end-2025, indicating the offer represents a premium of only 7.5%. M&A Securities advised the board to recommend that shareholders reject the offer, while also recommending that shareholders reject the offer. Sunway group founder Jeffrey Cheah has said the group would “walk away” from the proposed acquisition if IJM shareholders do not accept the offer by the deadline (April 6). IJM closed 11 sen or 4.6% higher at RM2.48, valuing the group at RM9.05 billion.