Others either suffered from having to offer pay-cuts to their employees or laying off staff , just to make ends meet .
However , this pandemic has taught many a lesson in business survival and lured them towards the necessity of M & As - as the old saying goes , “ receiving a piece of the pie is better than receiving nothing at all .”
Mergers and Acquisitions , despite the alarming sound of their title , brings many benefits to business owners . There are four common types of M & As in Malaysia : the acquisition of assets or business , acquisition of shares , joint ventures and total takeovers .
“ There are certainly advantages from a business standpoint in terms of entering into an M & A transaction and there are also different types of M & As that Malaysian entities typically partake in . The acquisition of shares is the most common wherein either a certain percentage of shares in a company is sold by a seller to a buyer or 100 per cent of all shares in a company is sold by its shareholders to a Purchaser , in which case this is known as a complete buyout . Joint ventures also serve a great purpose for business growth and this can come in the form of merging two companies together or creating an entirely new separate entity for new business ventures between parties , in which case is known as an incorporated joint venture with the new separate entity sometimes known as a special purpose vehicle ( SPV ).” - Cassandra Nicole Thomazios , Partner from MahWengKwai & Associates .
M & As are not just practical for SMEs , even larger firms have decided to take this proactive solution to benefit their organisations . The largest M & A deal last year , valued at US $ 2.72 billion , was in the agricultural sector . This was the planned takeover by the Federal Land Development Authority ( Felda ) of FGV Holdings Bhd shares as announced in December last year .
An example of M & As in the SME sphere is that of CTOS Digital Sdn Bhd , a company involved in credit reporting which recently acquired 100 per cent of shares in Basis Corporation Sdn Bhd in 2020 to expand their portfolio and for business growth as Malaysia ’ s leading credit reporting agency .
Property360Digest e-magazine Issue # 9 - 2021