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Boustead Holdings Bhd has obtained the approval from the Securities Commission’s equity compliance unit to acquire the controlling stake in Pharmaniaga Bhd.

Boustead had proposed to acquire 86.8% of Pharmaniaga from UEM Group Bhd for RM534mil cash, or RM5.75 per share.

Boustead in its filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday said that under the mandatory takeover offer, Boustead would be obliged to undertake all the remaining 13.19% or 14.1 million shares of RM1 each of the existing issued and paid-up share capital of Pharmaniaga not already held by Boustead.

Meanwhile, Pharmaniaga’s net profit for the second quarter ended June 30 fell 16.9% to RM14.7mil against the previous corresponding quarter due to higher selling and distribution expenses as well as personnel costs.

The previous corresponding period also enjoyed lower operating costs and recognition of a gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment of RM2.3mil.

However, Pharmaniaga’s revenue increased by 5.1% to RM350.3mil for the quarter under review.

Managing director Mohammad Abdullah said improved internal efficiencies and productivity were essential to mitigate the impact of rises in selling, distribution and personnel costs.

Performance for the second quarter showed a marked improvement over the first quarter with revenues gaining by 10.3% and a 58.1% jump in net profit.

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• Pharmaniaga licence revoked

The Health Ministry’s pharmaceutical services division has revoked the manufacturing licence of Pharmaniaga Manufacturing Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pharmaniaga Bhd, after a routine audit of the Bangi plant.

The company told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that the revocation was effective from March 1.

Pharmaniaga managing director Mohamad Abdullah told StarBiz over the phone that the ministry found a few non-compliance issues that the firm was now working to expedite.

He said the ministry officials would be returning “very soon” for another round of audit but would not say when this would take place.

“For something like this, we’re hoping that the plant will not be closed longer than a week as this will affect our suppliers,” Mohamad said.

In the announcement, Pharmaniaga said manufacturing contributed approximately 10% to the company’s turnover based on financial year ended Dec 31, 2009 (FY09) results.

“As such, the cessation of production is not expected to have a significant financial impact as the other business lines are not affected and the company believes it will be able to address the audit issues within a relatively short time,” it added.

For FY09, the company posted a net profit of RM60.19mil on revenue of RM1.30bil while for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2009, the company posted a net profit of RM21.91mil on revenue of RM323.90mil.

Meanwhile, in a separate announcement, the company said its major shareholder UEM Group Bhd was evaluating options with regard to meeting the public spread requirement of Pharmaniaga by March 29.

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