Olympia Industries Bhd, a company under gaming and property magnate Tan Sri Yap Yong Seong, is seeking to put in a RM2.25 billion bid for Pan Malaysian Pools Sdn Bhd (PMP), the gaming arm of Tanjong plc, said industry sources.
But the company has not been able to firm up a financing plan which is why it has not submitted an offer yet, said sources.
The price tag is to better the existing offer on the table for PMP, which is said to be RM2.2 billion made by the Cheng family. The low-profile Cheng family has some interest in gaming-related activities in private clubs which explains its interest in PMP.
Olympia, a company controlled by Yap, told Bursa Malaysia Securities yesterday that it had expressed interest to acquire “all the equity shares” in PMP from Tanjong, in line with Olympia’s move to constantly seek investment opportunities to complement its businesses.
However, Olympia pointed out that no formal offer had been made for the PMP shareholding as of yesterday.
PMP is a number forecast operator and runs the Big Sweep lottery as well as assumes the management of the horse breeding and related activities of the National Stud Farm.
“The company will make the necessary announcement should there be further developments,” Olympia said in a filing to the exchange yesterday to clarify last week’s news articles “Duta Yap joins fray for Tanjong’s gaming unit” and “Olympia, DutaLand rise in active trade”.
The Edge weekly reported last month that the Cheng family, Duta Yap’s Olympia, Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King’s investment vehicle Rimbunan Hijau and Philippine tycoon Roberto Bobby Ongpin Jr were among the parties eyeing PMP.
Yap is the group managing director of Olympia, which is an investment holding company, whose subsidiaries are principally involved in property investment and development, stockbroking, gaming, travel and tours as well as restaurant operations.
He is also the group managing director of DutaLand Bhd, a sister company of Olympia, that is engaged primarily in oil palm plantations, property development and investments.
Olympia has several assets in its books which include Menara Olympia, a car park in the city centre and a slice of about 88 acres in the Sri Hartamas-Mont’Kiara enclave.
The 88 acres, estimated to have a gross development value of some RM2 billion, are shared with sister company DutaLand.
DutaLand, formerly Mycom Bhd, bought the 88-acre freehold land over 30 years ago. The land is jointly owned by DutaLand’s wholly owned subsidiary KH Estates Sdn Bhd (58%) and Olympia Properties Sdn Bhd (42%), a unit of Olympia.
The masterplan for the development of the land has been approved with some 23 million sq feet in gross floor area comprising 30% residential and 70% commercial properties. It is to be divided into nine parcels to be developed over the next 10-15 years.
Shares of Olympia yesterday added 2.5 sen to close at 31.5 sen with turnover of 68.81 million units while DutaLand shed one sen to close at 53.5 sen with 4.27 million units transacted.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, December 14, 2010.
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