Felcra says caught off guard by Kuantan Flour Mills announcement

KUALA LUMPUR: Felcra Bhd said its registration of interest in Practice Note 17 company Kuantan Flour Mills Bhd (KFM) on Dec 9 was purely exploratory, and that it was taken aback when the group announced Felcra’s interest without first formally responding to it.
Bernama reported that Felcra, in a statement, said its retraction of interest in KFM was made to avoid further public misconception.
Felcra’s statement alluded to claims that it had allegedly collaborated with certain parties in a bid to move KFM’s share price.
KFM’s share price, which was hovering at 8 sen, shot up to 25 sen on Dec 14, after it announced Felcra’s interest. On the same day, KFM announced that it was applying for an extension of time to submit its regularisation plan, which was due by Dec 31, 2016, to Bursa Malaysia.
Barely 24 hours later, however, KFM announced that Felcra had retracted its interest in the group. The next trading day, a Friday, saw KFM shares fall back to 8 sen.
“Felcra wishes to state that at any material time it has no collaborations with any party relating to KFM, and is not responsible for any share price fluctuations,” it said.
Felcra said it did not enter into any definitive agreement with KFM, nor did it definitively plan to undertake a reverse takeover (RTO). It said an RTO was merely one of the methods by which Felcra was anticipating its potential collaboration with KFM.
“Felcra’s register of interest dated Dec 9 was purely exploratory and subject to the usual management deliberation.
“While on one the hand, Felcra understands KFM’s disclosure obligation of material information to Bursa Malaysia, on the other hand, it was caught by surprise since there was no formal response by KFM on the register of interest prior to KFM announcing the same to Bursa Malaysia,” it said.