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Karachi, June 11, 2012 (PPI-OT): Lucky Cement has shown interest in acquiring 75.81% stake and control of ICI Pakistan for which it would conduct due diligence of the company, as notified to KSE.
According to Alfalah Securities Limited, Akzo Nobel intends to retain only its paint business where it holds expertise while sell its other businesses to any interested party offering a better price.
Moreover, ICI Pakistan Ltd. has also notified that the last day for trading of ICI would be June 19, 2012 and on June 20, 2012, negotiated deals on C-to-C basis will be allowed at T+0 basis up to 1:00 pm. The book closure date is scheduled from June 21, 2012 to June 27, 2012 and the trading of shares of ICI will be suspended from June 21, 2012 on the bourses and June 27, 2012 will be used as the reference date for entitlement of split shares. After completion of the regulatory procedure, the trading of split shares of ICI and Akzo Nobel will commence from the mid of July, 2012.
This is in context of the reconstruction of ICI Pakistan where its paint business would be separated from ICI. AkzoNobel, holding 75.81% (105.23 mn shares) of ICI through its subsidiary ICI Omicron, has decided to separate the paints business from ICI and form a new company named “AkzoNobel Pakistan”. AkzoNobel intends to preserve ICI’s paint business and form a separate entity, primarily due to its proven managerial record in the paints manufacturing industry. AkzoNobel would split the paid up capital of PkR 1,388.023 mn into PkR 923.59mn of ICI Pakistan and PkR 464.43 mn of AkzoNobel Pakistan which means that the shareholders would be allotted 33.46% shares of AkzoNobel Pakistan while they would possess 66.54% shares of ICI Pakistan after its reconstruction. The breakup value of ICI Pakistan currently stands at PkR 104.85 per share (as at Mar 31, 2011). Alfalah Securities Limited believes the acquisition of ICI Pakistan by Lucky Cement, if happened, would bode well for the company as it would be able to diversify into other businesses thus reducing its business risk while increasing profitability from other sources.