Lee, others in RM3.6b bid for KNM business

KNM Group Bhd (7164) says its founder and other investors have offered to buy all of its business, valuing the process equipment maker at RM3.6 billion.
The group has received a proposal from BlueFire Capital Group Ltd, which is controlled by Lee Swee Eng, to buy all of its business and undertakings for 90 sen per share.

Lee is the group managing director and major shareholder, with 23.4 per cent of KNM as at May 18 last year.

The offer is 20 per cent more than KNM's share price of 75 sen at yesterday's close.

KNM told Bursa Malaysia that BlueFire was working with GS Capital Partners VI Fund LP and Mettiz Capital Ltd and the international adviser was Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
GS Capital is a US$20.3 billion (RM69 billion) global investment fund set up by Goldman in 2007.

KNM's board has granted BlueFire a limited exclusivity period up to March 22 to complete due diligence.

KNM said it will engage its legal and financial advisers to assist the company and its board to evaluate and negotiate the definitive terms of any transaction. KNM's current order book stands at RM2.2 billion. It is bidding for contracts valued at RM14 billion.

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KNM Group Bhd rose the most in seven months after a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. private equity fund joined KMN’s founder in a takeover bid that values the Malaysian oil and gas services provider at about $1 billion.

The stock surged 9.3 per cent to 82 sen at 12:16 p.m. local time in Kuala Lumpur, set for the steepest gain since July 15.

GS Capital Partners VI Fund LP and a company controlled by KNM Managing Director Lee Swee Eng offered the equivalent of 90 sen a share, KNM said in a statement yesterday. Mettiz Capital Ltd. is also in the bidding group, it said. Goldman Sachs is advising the bidders on the takeover.

“We believe that the 90 sen offer price is fair to shareholders,” Bernard Ching, an analyst at ECM Libra Investment Bank Bhd, said in a report today. “Our view is to accept the offer should everything come into fruition.”

The offer is 20 per cent more than KNM’s closing price yesterday and values the company at RM3.6 billion, based data compiled by Bloomberg.

Shares of the company, which makes processing equipment for the oil and gas, petrochemical and mineral industries, have risen 93 per cent in the past year, more than twice the 42 per cent gain in the Malaysian benchmark stock index.

BlueFire Capital Group Ltd, the company controlled by Lee that made the bid, has until March 22 to complete due diligence, including the “receipt of firm financing commitments,” the statement said. - Bloomberg