SC pushes Bursa to probe Ascot licence flap
(TMI) KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — The Securities Commission has told Bursa Malaysia to query Tan Sri Vincent Tan’s public-listed Berjaya Corporation Berhad over its plan to buy a stake in Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd for its sports betting licence, which the government has denied re-issuing. The Malaysian Insider understands that the move came after the exchange yesterday kept silent over the finance ministry’s denial that a licence had been issued to Ascot Sports, as revealed in a May 12 filing by Berjaya Corporation.
“Bursa has queried public listed companies on lesser issues, so it’s only natural for them to query Berjaya Corporation,” a source told The Malaysian Insider.
It is learnt the country’s top securities watchdog was keen to know the sequence of events that led to the filing.
Bursa yesterday referred The Malaysian Insider to the company’s announcement of its intended acquisition of a controlling stake in Ascot Sports, which was not unconditional, and declined to comment on whether it would query Berjaya Corporation.
“Bursa Malaysia highlighted to The Malaysian Insider that the conditions of the re-issuance of the licence is stated in the announcement made by Berjaya Corp Berhad on 12 May 2010,” a Bursa official wrote in an e-mail response to questions about whether Berjaya Corporation would be queried.
In the announcement, Berjaya Corporation had stated that “the Minister of Finance has given its approval for the re-issuance to Ascot of the licence to carry out sports betting operations upon certain terms and conditions.
“Ascot proposes to commence its sports betting operation in the 2nd half of the year 2010 with its retail betting operations being housed at 220 selected Sports Toto outlets, subject to relevant approvals being obtained.
“In addition, Ascot also proposes to provide telephone betting services to customers who wish to register accounts with them. The primary focus of Ascot will be on sports betting on soccer games in the initial stages with the aim of increasing their product service offering to other sports in the future subject to the terms and conditions of the licence.”
However, Berjaya Corporation also stated that its proposed acquisition of Ascot Sports was conditional on, among others, “the re-issuance of the licence pursuant to Section 5(1) of the Pool Betting Act, 1967 (revised 1983) or such other laws or legislation that regulate or govern the conduct and operation of the sports betting operations of Ascot by the Minister of Finance to Ascot.”
The proposed acquisition by Berjaya Corporation of Tan’s 70 per cent stake in Ascot included a personal guarantee from the tycoon that the company would make a cumulative net profit of at least RM375 million for the first three years of operation.
Bursa Malaysia officials had pointed out today that because of the conditions of the proposed acquisition, Berjaya Corporation’s filing was accurate.
If the company and its directors, including Tan, had misled the exchange, they would have been subject to sections 177 and 369 of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.
