Dubai: Within the upcoming 21 days, the Hussain Sajwani owned Maple Invest will tell Damac’s Board of Directors and shareholders the opening and closing date for its open-ended offer to secure the 27.285% not held by it.
Maple made the conventional way to deal with Damac on June 9, a day after signaling its intention to acquire the balance stake. If all goes as per plan, Hussain Sajwani will possess 100% of the Dubai real estate developer he set up and afterward took to an IPO in 2013.
What’s the proposal?
Sajwani and Maple, the investment company that he claims in full, plan to obtain the 1.07 billion Damac shares that are held by others. The offer cost is set at Dh1.3 a share. (On Thursday (June 10), Damac’s stock was once again at the Dh1.3 level after dropping 2 fils on Wednesday.)
And Maple makes it amply clear that the offer is final – The “offer price of Dh1.3 set out in the intention and this offer document is final and is not subject to further amendment, whether upwards or downwards…”.
Not enough?
The Damac stock reached a 52-week high of Dh1.75, whereas its low for a similar period was Dh0.67. There are a few shareholders who accept the offer price should have been at Dh1.5 or somewhat higher given that the company’s core fundamentals remain sound even in difficult market circumstances. In addition, these minority shareholders figure that Damac would be probably the greatest beneficiaries from the ongoing upturn in property buying in Dubai, particularly as a few of its projects are finished or almost there.
When Maple and Sajwani are confirmed as getting 17.785 percent of the Damac held by others, it would take them to the 90% threshold. Get one more share and that immediately sets in motion the ‘squeeze out’ of all those stock owners who are not in the mood to sell.