The Malaysian Malay Businessmen and Industrialists Association of Malaysia (Perdasama) said this was important as the sale could result in massive losses for its Malaysian shareholders.
Perdasama president Moehamad Izat Emir said he was surprised there had been no reaction from the SC, Bursa Malaysia and the Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group.
“Under normal circumstances such an unusual deal would have raised the alarm bells,” he said.
Royal Dutch Shell, the global oil giant, is selling its entire 51% stake in a refinery in Port Dickson to the Chinese company for USD66.3 million (RM276 million), valuing the transaction of SRC at RM551 million or RM1.80 a share while the market capitalisation of the company at Friday’s close was RM1.48 billion or RM4.94 a share.
The counter closed limit-down in early trading today, plunging 29.9% to RM3.48 in what is seen as a sign of protest by investors against the selling price, Moehamad Izat said.
There are strong reasons for the regulatory authorities and non-governmental organisations to probe deeper into this transaction because about 30% of SRC is owned by key institutions like Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen (KWAP), he added.
It is also questionable because just one month before the announcement of the sale, SRC shares on Bursa Malaysia were traded at RM6, which came down to RM4.93 a day before the announcement, dropping further to RM3.46 just a day after the announcement.
“Perdasama regards the refinery, which belongs to one of the nation’s oldest companies that has been operating in Malaysia for over 100 years, as a national asset that should not be sold to a foreign entity.
“We understand that a Malaysian Bumiputera-owned company had made a much higher bid for SRC at about RM420 million for the 51% stake but this was rejected.
“This raises a lot of questions. Why price the stake so low? Why is it being sold to foreigners instead of locals, thus highly shortchanging Malaysian investors like PNB, EPF, KWAP and the public?”
SRC is a key national asset because it refines some 150,000 barrels of crude oil daily out of the country’s total production of 700,000 barrels.
Moehamad Izat said Perdasama wanted answers to these questions from the authorities.