KUALA LUMPUR, 15 JULY: Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp) proposes to sell Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) and privatize Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand) as part of its strategic transformation plan, which also includes a proposed hotel real estate investment trust (REIT). BCorp group CEO Abdul Jalil Abdul Rasheed said today that the company has not established a deadline for privatizing BLand, but that he expects the company will “do it sooner rather than later.”
“There is a financial component.” Taking the stock (BLand) off the market will be costly.
“The difficult decision I have to make is whether that money is best spent removing the stock off the market or investing it elsewhere,” Abdul Jalil said today at a virtual event hosted by MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd.
Because BLand owns so many businesses, Abdul Jalil believes BCorp recognizes the need to rationalize BLand, and that the best way to do so is to privatize it.
BCorp intends to sell BToto, according to Abdul Jalil, because the number prediction operator is in a highly regulated industry.
BCorp like to focus on businesses that aren’t overly regulated, according to him.
BCorp, on the other hand, has not set a deadline for the anticipated sale of BToto, according to him, and will sell BToto when the price is right.
“I’m not in a hurry to sell BToto because it pays high dividends,” he explained.
BCorp may accelerate its BToto disposal strategy if it receives dividends from other businesses, he said.
There will be more to come./n
