KUALA LUMPUR: Ho Hup Construction Co Bhd has been ordered by the High Court to acquire the remaining 4.5 million shares or 30% stake in Bukit Jalil Development Sdn Bhd (BJD) from Zen Courts Sdn Bhd for RM35.97 million or RM7.99 per share.

Based on the court order, Ho Hup is required to buy the remaining 30% in BJD, which owns the right to develop 60 acres of prime land in Bukit Jalil, within four months.

“We are glad to get the minority issue out of the way,” executive director Derek Wong told The Edge Financial Daily.

Ho Hup said Zen Courts would have to ask Yeoh Keng Tat to resign as director of BJD on or before the purchase was completed.

On March 27, 2012, the court ordered a buyout of Zen Courts’ 30% stake in BJD by Ho Hup and that a valuation be made on the net tangible assets of BJD.

Pursuant to the said buyout order, an independent valuer was appointed on June 19, 2012 and a valuation report was issued on Dec 31, 2012. The court order will put an end to a protracted legal tussle between Ho Hup and Zen Courts.

The 60-acre tract in Bukit Jalil has made Ho Hup a target for predators and subject of a lengthy boardroom tussle.

Ho Hup’s previous board, headed by Datuk Vincent Lye, entered into a joint development agreement with Pioneer Haven Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Malton Bhd, a few hours before he and his team were ousted at a shareholders’ meeting in March 2010.

While the faction led by founding shareholder Datuk Low Tuck Choy had gained control after Lye’s ouster, Ho Hup’s financial restructuring was put on hold for two years as the company had subsequently got into a legal battle with Pioneer Haven over the rights to develop the Bukit Jalil land.

Both Ho Hup and Malton reached an out-of-court settlement last year, in which Ho Hup develops 10 acres on its own while the rest of the land is jointly developed with Malton.

Reports indicated that the potential development of the BJD land could produce a gross development value of over RM4 billion.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 19, 2013.

 

 

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