Perkasa wants Sime Darby to drop E&O share buy

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 Perkasa called today for Sime Darby to cancel the 30 per cent purchase of Eastern & Oriental (E&O) as the government-linked company (GLC) already has expertise in real estate development.

We are confident that Sime Darby does not need the services of other companies, said the Malay lobby groups information chief Ruslam Kasim after handing over a memorandum protesting the move to Sime Darby.

Sime Darbys acquisition of the 30 per cent stake in E&O is being probed by the Securities Commission (SC) following allegations of insider trading that also involves the husband of the SC chairman.

Perkasas memorandum called the planned RM776 million purchase at a 60 per cent premium over the market price a betrayal of trust.

It represents the fall of moral responsibility and credibility of Sime Darby, damaging the image of the government for failing to monitor (Sime Darbys) operations.

The rise of such corruption will damage the governments efforts to transform the entire sector, the memorandum said.

Just before the Hari Raya break, Sime Darby announced it wanted to buy a 30 per cent block (involving 273 million shares and 60 million irredeemable convertible secured loan stocks) in E&O at RM2.30 per share from three vendors.

Datuk Azizan Abdul Rahman, whose wife is SC chief Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, purchased 100,000 shares on August 12 from the open market, bringing his total purchase to some 450,000 shares from the open market involving five separate transactions from April to August this year.

The SC has said it was investigating the deal although it did not previously note the relationship between Zarinah and Azizan.