S P Setia aborting new ESOS scheme, going ahead with placement

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 7): Property developer S P Setia Bhd will seek shareholders' approval to place out up to 15% of its share base at a meeting on Nov 23, but is no longer pursuing its recently proposed employees' share option scheme (ESOS).

"The company will not be tabling the resolutions on the proposed ESOS… as the  company is evaluating alternative incentive schemes before deciding on the eventual scheme to be implemented," S P Setia said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday (Nov 7) evening.

S P Setia's chief financial officer Datuk Teow Leong Seng told The Edge Financial Daily in mid-August that a new ESOS with 10-year tenure was proposed as most options granted under the existing scheme had been exercised by employees when accepting a revised mandatory general offer of RM3.95 apiece by Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) and S P Setia group president and CEO Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin in January this year. PNB had roped in Liew as a joint-offeror in the revised proposal with a 5 sen higher offer price, after an initial offer met with strong resistance from employees. Liew had reportedly agreed to stay-on as CEO for three years.   

S P Setia's proposed share placement exercise to raise cash followed the company's participation in the multi-billion Battersea development project in London alongside Sime Darby Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund Board.

The aborted ESOS scheme was also to involve the issuance of up to 15% of its share base as part of its talent-retention programme.

S P Setia closed unchanged at RM3.60 today on thin trade.