Johor Corp (JCorp) yesterday decided to keep mum on the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (DPMM)'s offer to buy Kulim (Malaysia) Bhd.
Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), meanwhile, is coy on the possibility of either making a joint bid or merely providing funds for suitors of JCorp's Kulim shares.
DPMM president Syed Ali Alatas had said on Monday that the chamber was prepared to buy the shares with support from its members and government-linked companies.
This was to keep Kulim's Bumiputera ownership intact, Syed Ali added.
When asked to comment about the DPMM funding plan to buy over Kulim, PNB president Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman replied: "We have to see it first".
Nevertheless, Hamad Kama Piah stressed that the country's largest fund manager had not received any proposal pertaining to the Kulim bid.
When contacted yesterday morning, a JCorp spokesperson said it would respond to DPMM statement by the end of the day. However, until press time, no statement was issued.
Last week, JCorp's former president and chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim reportedly claimed that the management of JCorp was planning to sell Kulim.
JCorp holds a controlling 53 per cent stake in Kulim, which in turn owns 57.5 per cent of QSR Brands Bhd. The latter holds a 50.6 per cent stake in KFC Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd (KFCH).
When Muhammad Ali was still heading JCorp last year, two offers from Carlyle Investment Advisors Ltd and Idaman Saga Sdn Bhd to take over Kulim's outfit QSR were rejected.
Muhammad Ali had been quoted earlier claiming that he was ousted from Kulim's board by certain parties who wanted to asset-strip the group.
Current JCorp president and CEO Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim had said that QSR and KFCH are the group's prized assets and that it would not be a wise business decision to sell a profitable "cash business".
JCorp entered the quick-service restaurant business in 2006. Since then, its revenue and pre-tax profit have been growing by an average of 13.8 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively each year.
As at December 31 2009, the group's total assets stood at more than RM14 billion, while debt stood at RM6 billion, of which RM3.6 billion is due by mid-2012. - By Hamisah Hamid and Zurinna Raja Adam of btimes.com.my
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