Renong chairman Halim Saad's proposal to swap the company's 12.3% stake in Commerce Asset-Holding CAH to redeem some of the M$8.4 billion zero-coupon bonds issued by its Projek Leburhraya Utara-Selatan PLUS toll-road unit is not a bad plan. CAH, which controls Bumiputra-Commerce Bank, Malaysia's second biggest banking group, is in good shape fundamentally but there exists a lack of demand for its shares.
More precisely, there is a lack of domestic demand and foreign ownership is already approaching the 30% ceiling allowed by the Malaysian government. In addition, New Straits Times Press is looking to offload its 13.0% interest in CAH. Hopes a strategic investor could be found for...
