KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 ― Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) shares were in the red upon the resumption of its trade today.

At 9am, the counter fell 30 sen to RM10.10 but pared some of its loss as it fell between 14 and 28 sen.

The counter sat in third place on Bursa Malaysia’s top decliners’ list at RM10.12 as of 10.10am.

MAHB requested a suspension in trading for all the company’s securities yesterday for a material announcement.

It later announced that a consortium, led by two government-linked Investment companies ― Khazanah Nasional Bhd via its wholly owned subsidiary UEM Group Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), has made a takeover offer of RM18.4 billion.

The consortium, Gateway Development Alliance (GDA), is offering RM11 per share.

The consortium’s other shareholders comprise a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and funds managed by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), one of the world’s premier infrastructure investors and an experienced airport owner and manager, according to a joint statement by the shareholders of GDA.

The Malaysian investors would own 70 per cent of MAHB while ADIA and GIP will hold the remaining 30 per cent.

MIDF Research said the consortium’s RM11.00 per share offer represents a 26 per cent premium compared to its discounted cash flow (DCF)-derived fair value of RM8.75.

"The deal puts the valuation at 9.2 times and 7.6 times enterprise value/earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for the financial year 2023/2024, which we consider reasonable versus a five-year historical average of 9.3 times,” it said in a note today.

The research house said its DCF-derived fair value for MAHB remains at RM8.75.

"Assuming the pre-conditions are met or waived, we recommend investors accept the buyout offer at RM11.00 per share,” it said.

MAHB became the first Asian airport operator to go public and only the sixth in the world to do so in 1999.

Today, it is one of the largest airport operator groups in the world in terms of the number of passengers handled, managing 39 airports across Malaysia with five international airports, 17 domestic and 17 STOLports as well as one international airport in Turkiye. ― Bernama