The firm's $50 million bid to buy the plant, property and equipment of the terminal was rejected on the grounds that a buy-out would 'emasculate the remaining businesses of the company', as HIS said in a letter to JCL's solicitors, on January 15th.

'Our principal reason, inter-alia, for not accepting the offer is that by accepting the offer, it is our view that it would mean that you are stripping out the cement plant and terminal assets, leaving behind the residual ready-mixed concrete and dry-mix mortar assets in the company,' the letter stated.

JCL had previously instructed its solicitors to obtain a written agreement from HIS supporting the offer, as HIS holds more than 55 per cent of the voting shares in JCL.

'Although the offer allegedly brings a one-off additional $0.87 per share to the net book value per share, we believe that it fails to take into account the ongoing increase in operating costs which would arise from having to rent a third-party cement terminal and the potential impairment of the remaining operating assets in the company,' the letter said.

YTL Cement, a substantial shareholder of JCL and a subsidiary of Malaysian conglomerate YTL Group, had made the offer in response to HIS's attempt to take JCL private for $2.10 per share, a price that YTL had deemed too low.