MonsterMob offers to buy remaining stake in UnrealMind


England-based MonsterMob Group plc has offered to buy the remaining stake in UnrealMind Interactive Bhd (UMI).

K&N Kenanga Bhd on behalf of MonsterMob said the group plans todelist UMI shares from Bursa Malaysia Bhd's Mesdaq (Malaysian Exchange of Securities Dealing and Automated Quotation Bhd) Market upon the completion of the acquisition.

MonsterMob chief executive officer Martin Higginson said that the acquisition will strengthen the group's Asian platform and continue to establish itself as one of the leading mobile entertainment companies worldwide.

"with this acquisition, MonsterMob has built out its distribution scale significantly both by volumes and geography," said Higginson in a statement.

UMI chief executive officer Tan Swee Yeong said UMI is able to tap into a global sourcing, licensing and distributing capacity while leveraging on the experience of MonsterMob by being part of the group.

"The offer is an endorsement of UMI's business, operational and regional expansion strategy in South East Asia," said Tan.

MonsterMob Group, a mobile content developer and provider, currently has 30 million ordinary shares which is about 30 per cent stake in UMI. It was listed on the Alternative Investment Market on the London Stock Exchange on November 2003.

UMI based in Kuala Lumpur, sells entertainment for mobile phones in South East Asia including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

In the proposed voluntary offer, MonsterMob is offering to buy the balance 70.09 million shares at 40 sen per share, or by issuing one new MonsterMob share for every 45 UMI shares.

The current proposal is similar to the offer in November last year, when MonsterMob bought 30 Million UMI shares at the price of 40 sen each.

UMI was set up in late 2001 and had managed to turn in RM3.15million in net profits in 2003, Its revenue rose from RM52,000 in fiscal 2002 to RM10.2 million in fiscal 2003.

UMI will resume trading on the Mesdaq Market today, after it was suspended last Friday. The last trading price for UMI was 36.5 sen per share.