Plus Expressways Bhd's Dec 23 deadline for new offers has provided a buffer for investors to review its potential.  

The interest in its shares yesterday, which largely influenced the movements of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, eased today.

According to AmResearch, the toll operator's proposal to adjourn the extraordinary general meeting tomorrow would allow its board to evaluate the RM26 billion offer by Jelas Ulung Sdn Bhd to acquire its assets and liabilities.

"We believe all eyes would now be on how the board evaluate Jelas Ulung's offer of RM5.20 apiece," it said in its research note today.

"The fresh bid appears to represent a 13 percent premium over an earlier offer of RM4.60 per share jointly offered by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the UEM Group."

Besides the offers from Jelas Ulung and EPF-UEM, others have come from Asas Serba Sdn Bhd and MMC Corp Bhd.

Plus has said that no offer for its business will be considered after 5pm tomorrow.

The research house said that while the offer by Jelas Ulung may re-ignite trading interest in Plus, it maintained its view that the earlier offer of RM4.60 per share by the EPF-UEM pact - approved by the Plus board in November - is fair to investors pending more concrete details.

The stock rose by 2 sen to close at RM4.62 today.

Yesterday's RM4.60 close was reported as the highest on record since its listing in 2002.

- Bernama