KUALA LUMPUR – Boustead Holdings Bhd’s (BHB) proposed agreement to dispose of its 66.41% controlling stake in University of Nottingham in Malaysia (UNM) has lapsed.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, BHB said the conditions precedent remained unfulfilled as at August 16 (yesterday), being the cut-off date for the agreement.
“BHB and the purchaser have mutually accepted and agreed that the share sale agreement (SSA) shall be deemed to have lapsed and be of no effect in accordance with Clause 2.6 of the SSA and the SSA is accordingly terminated.”
According to previous reports, BHB had agreed to sell its interest in UNM for just over RM137 million to the University of Nottingham, UK.
In a filing to Bursa Malaysia on August 17, 2021, Boustead stated that the sale amount was for its 66.41% stake in the educational venture and a campus in Semenyih, Selangor.
The Malaysian Reserve had reported the sale is part of BHB’s strategy to rationalise its non-strategic assets, as well as accelerating the group’s performance by capitalising on emerging opportunities for value creation within existing core businesses.
The decision, the business portal reported, is expected to bode well for the group to manage costs and maximise returns to shareholders.
University of Nottingham now aims to become the majority shareholder in UNM by purchasing, through a wholly owned Malaysian subsidiary, BHB’s shares in UNM.
UNM is a private university branch campus of the University of Nottingham and the first campus of a British university in Malaysia.
Since its campus establishment in 2000, BHB has been the majority shareholder of UNM.
UNM had been in partnership with YTL Corp Bhd and the University of Nottingham in 1998, welcoming its first batch comprising 89 students in September 2000 based in the country’s capital.
In 2005, UNM relocated to a 47.75ha campus in Semenyih while in the following year, UNM reopened a Kuala Lumpur branch in Chulan Tower, Jalan Conlay to instruct MBA students. – The Vibes, August 17, 2022
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