Oldtown's share price jumps 29 sen on news of takeover offer

PETALING JAYA: Oldtown Bhd's share price jumped to a high of 29 sen in early trade, after it received a pre-conditional takeover offer from retail coffee giant Jacobs Douwe Egberts Holdings Asia NL BV (the offeror) at RM3.18 a share, valuing it at RM1.47 billion.

Dutch company Jacobs Douwe manufactures and distributes coffee, as well as offers retail products and professional solutions, such as coffee machines, ingredients, and professional services.

An official offer is only to be made upon receiving approvals from antitrust authorities. The offeror has until Aug 11, 2018 to do so.

"Shareholders should note that there is no certainty that the pre-conditions will be satisfied and that the Offer will be made by the offeror. Shareholders are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the shares of the company," Oldtown said in its announcement with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

Shareholders of OldTown holding 51.45% shares have stated their intention to accept the offer. Oldtown' share price was up 21 sen at RM3.09 as at 11.37am, with some 2.6 million shares done. In the past one year the stock price has gained 73%.

Founded in 1999, the OldTown Group principal activities are café chain operations "Oldtown White Coffee" and the manufacturing, marketing and sales of coffee and other beverages, including instant coffee mix, instant milk tea mix, instant chocolate mix and roasted coffee powder. It offers its products to more than 17 markets including Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan, United States of America, Canada, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, United Kingdom, Australia, Myanmar, Cambodia and New Zealand.

As at Sep 30, 2017, OldTown operates a total chain of 232 café outlets, comprising 189 in Malaysia, nine in Singapore, 27 in Indonesia, one in Australia, three in China, one in Hong Kong and two in Myanmar.