Rowsley inks deals to acquire RSP, land

Published February 04, 2013 ROWSLEY Ltd has sealed the two deals it needed to transform into a property player, a move that comes after it made known in December last year plans to acquire RSP Architects Planners & Engineers and a 9.23-hectare plot of land in Iskandar in Johor. The investment company, controlled by billionaire Peter Lim, yesterday said that it has signed the sale and purchase agreements to acquire RSP in an all-share deal for $187 million. It will also acquire the Iskandar-located plot of land from Malaysia's Vantage Bay in an all-share deal for $358 million. Vantage Bay is majority-owned by Mr Lim. To reward existing shareholders, Rowsley said that it will issue a free bonus of two warrants for every existing share held, once all the necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals for the deals are received. Each warrant will have an exercise price of 18 cents per share. Under the deal, Rowsley will pay RSP by issuing up to 1.25 billion Rowsley shares at 15 cents a share. The maximum purchase price of $187 million works out to a price-to-earnings ratio of approximately 7.5 times, Rowsley said in a statement. This is based on the average annual profit after tax under earn-out targets from its financial years ending Dec 31, 2013, to 2015. -BT