Prajogo to acquire Malaysian firm at $1b

Prajogo to acquire Malaysian firm at $1b

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Indonesian timber tycoon Prajogo Pangestu would expand his acquisition of a publicly-listed Malaysian firm under a deal that could be worth up to 2.56 billion ringgit (US$1 billion), a report said yesterday.

Prajogo, the world's biggest plywood exporter, would inject more of his timber-related assets into Construction and Supplies House Bhd. (CASH) in the largest ever cross-border acquisition on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, the Business Times said.

Under the original 700 million ringgit (US$280 million) deal announced in February, Prajogo and his wife, Harlina Tjandinegara Pangestu, were to sell assets to CASH in exchange for shares that will give Prajogo a controlling stake in the Malaysian firm.

The assets were in Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and China.

But the Business Times, quoting sources, said Prajogo would further sell a major stake in one of his companies in the Barito Pacific group in exchange for more CASH shares under the expanded deal.

It was believed the deal, slated to be concluded today here, would also be financed by a cash payment and perhaps a stock issue, the sources said.

Among the Barito Pacific companies is Prajogo's flagship PT Barito Pacific Timber, which was recently listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, and accounts for about 10 percent of the Indonesian bourse's market capitalization.

CASH is controlled by its politically-connected managing director, Joseph Ambrose Lee Yok Min, who indicated last month that the deal would be "substantially bigger than first envisaged."

The transaction is the latest in a series of large timber- related reverse takeovers on the local bourse but is the first in which a Malaysian company is being acquired by foreign timber interests.