CENSOF Holdings Bhd, a technology holdings company specialising in financial management software solutions, is acquiring an additional 30.87% stake in Asian Business Software Solutions Pte Ltd (ABSS) to be satisfied via proceeds from its private placement exercise.
Yesterday, the company signed a RM14.1 mil share sale and purchase agreement (SSPA) to acquire a collective 162,305 ordinary ABSS shares from the latter’s minority shareholders.
The purchase consideration shall be satisfied via proceeds from a proposed private placement exercise of up to 20% of Censof shares issued to third party investors to be identified later under the general mandate pursuant to Sections 75 and 76 of the Companies Act 2016.
Based on an indicative issue price of 25 sen per placement share, the proposed private placement can raise gross proceeds of up to RM25.1 mil.
In addition, the proceeds have also been earmarked to fund the working capital requirements and the estimated expenses associated with the placement exercise.
Based on the SSPA, the minority shareholders, namely Paul Alistair Jennings, Fox Equities Pty Ltd and Lum Chong Eu will dispose 117,470, 38,220 and 6,615 ordinary shares which represent 22.34%, 7.27% and 1.26% interest in ABSS respectively.
ABSS is a developer and a leading supplier of ABSS-branded financial management and accounting software that supports the Asian small medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as cloud-based accounting product, namely Financio, which caters to start-ups and entry level SMEs.
Censof which initially acquired ABSS back in 2015 is presently holding a 58.20% equity interest in ABSS.
Following this transaction, the stake will increase to 89.07% while the remaining minority interest is held by Paul Alistair Jennings (5.90%) and Rhys Brown (5.03%).
ABSS is well-established and widely known as the market leader amongst the SMEs in Singapore and Hong Kong.
“The acquisition is in line with our strategies and is a compelling opportunity for us to expand our business in the SME segment, as well as strengthening our footprint in the Asian market,” Censof group managing director Ameer Shaik Mydin pointed out.
“The proposed private placement exercise is the most cost-effective manner for us to raise funds without incurring interest expenses as compared to bank borrowings.”
At 2.48pm, Censof was down 1.5 sen or 5.88% to 24 sen with 6.37 million shares traded, thus, valuing the company at RM120 mil. – Jan 26, 2021
