Blast from the Past: CLOB (2)

From The Straits Times, an article by Anita Gabriel:

Tycoon who made Clob investors a daring offer

Before 1999, few had heard of reclusive tycoon Akbar Khan, a Singaporean businessman based in Kuala Lumpur.

But not many could forget him once he emerged on the scene back then with a plan to free up frozen Clob shares.

Mr Khan and his nephew, Mr Mohamed Moiz Ali Moiz - another name etched in the memory of former Clob investors - have been making some big corporate moves in recent months.

Mr Khan's private vehicle Ambang Sehati - also owned by his two children and Mr Moiz - recently launched a RM 1.5 billion takeover offer for Bandaraya Development (BRDB), a listed flagship property firm in Malaysia where they are the majority shareholder.

BRDB is mostly involved in the high-end luxury residential market. Ambang Sehati acquired BRDB in 2001 following a restructuring of Multi-Purpose Holdings, which was a Clob darling that was popular with Singapore investors in the 1990's.

Mr Khan, a chartered accountant by training who is widely perceived to be close to Malaysia's former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, continues to keep a low profile.

In 1999, his Effective Capital - where Mr Moiz was chief executive - enraged Singaporeans when it first swooped in with a cash offer to buy all the Clob shares at half their last traded price.

(Note MAW: the last traded price was already very depressed, this all happened in the midst of the Asian crisis)

Matched by somewhat palatable offers made by other parties, he would tweak his offer several times later.

His final plan to migrate the shares back to their rightful shareholders on a staggered basis at a fee of 1.5 per cent eventually pulled through, reportedly netting the company Effective Capital a cool RM 80 million.

The fee was hard to swallow for the stricken investors who had suffered great losses.