Halom Investments, which holds a major stake in MMA Offshore, will tip its holding into the current Cyan Renewables takeover bid for the company, but its billionaire owner Michael Kum still has more than 100 million reasons for regret.
Mr Kum’s Halom currently owns 7.7 per cent of the shares – nothing to sneeze at, but well off the 18.1 per cent he held back in 2017 when the company was going through a very rough patch.
Halom ran a very public push to punt the then chief executive Jeffrey Weber and chairman Tony Howarth, going so far as to set up a website setting out its grievances, and its complete lack of faith that the management at the time could turn the company around.
Halom’s anger was understandable – MMA’s share price was trading at more than $4 in early 2013, and by September 2017 it was less than 20c.
The investor put resolutions to the company's annual meeting, however in the meantime MMA launched a $97m capital raising at 20c per share.
An angry Halom turned its nose up at the offer, with the result that its shareholding dropped more than 10 per cent – worth more than $100m at the $2.70 per share takeover price being offered by Cyan – to the current 7.7 per cent.
Given the water that has gone under the bridge and the stellar turnaround achieved by MMA over the past seven years, it might be time for Halom to take down its activist website, given it has now publicly stated it will support the Cyan bid, which was last month increased from $2.60 to $2.70 per share.
The increased bid price failed to win the favour of proxy adviser ISS, which says “shareholder views on the deal are understandably divergent’’.
Wilson Asset Management, which is understood to sit just below the 5 per cent significant shareholder level on the MMA register, and Thorney Investment Group with 8 per cent are both backing the deal.
ISS on the other hand argues the takeover premium “is low or nil” and that the short-term downside appears limited given the strong operating environment.
A scheme meeting to vote on the deal will be held on July 8.
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