IJM Corporation Shares Decline Amid Anti-Corruption Investigation

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 20): Shares of IJM Corporation Bhd (KL:IJM) fell on Tuesday's opening, a day after the company said officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) were present at the company’s office on Monday (Jan 19) to "obtain information as part of their process". When contacted by The Edge on the same day, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki confirmed an investigation into the company is ongoing. The counter fell 5.7% or 15 sen to open at RM2.50 compared to its previous-day closing of RM2.65. In a bourse statement on Monday, IJM said it was cooperating fully with the authorities and assured that its business operations "are continuing as usual". The counter fell as much as 16.4% on Monday, prompting regulators to suspend intra-day short-selling of the stock. Intra-day short-selling of the stock resumed on Tuesday (Jan 20) at 8.30am. Sunway Bhd (KL:SUNWAY) opened 0.7% or four sen lower at RM5.54. Sunway, which announced on Jan 12 its intention to acquire IJM, is offering to snap up shares in the latter for cash of 31.5 sen per share, and 501 Sunway shares for every 1,000 IJM shares held. IJM issued a notification to its shareholders regarding Sunway’s takeover bid on Monday. The offer to acquire all outstanding shares at RM3.15 apiece — based on the cash offer portion and Sunway's consideration of IJM shares at an issue price of RM5.65 apiece — is below most analysts’ target prices for IJM. Despite the price being below target, several analysts recommend that shareholders accept the offer to realize IJM's value and gain long-term exposure to the larger, combined entity. The acquisition is further complicated by Sunway's concurrent plan to list its healthcare subsidiary, Sunway Healthcare, on the stock exchange. As part of this separate listing, Sunway will distribute shares in the healthcare unit to its own shareholders, which will reduce its effective stake in the business.