Plus Expressways Bhd came under selling pressure on Bursa Malaysia today after Jelas Ulung Sdn Bhd, which had made the highest offer to acquire the toll operator, failed to place a RM50 million deposit by 5pm yesterday as a requirement for the offer to be valid.

It was among the top losers for the day falling 26 sen to RM4.43 in early trade and thereafter closing the day 24 sen lower at RM4.45 with 163,029 lots traded.

The toll operator had also opened 24 sen lower at RM4.45, which is below the RM4.60 per share offered by UEM Group Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

OSK Research said with no fresh bids at the deadline, it appears that the UEM-EPF offer of RM4.60 was the only one left on the table.

The research firm has revised its target price for Plus to RM4.60 to reflect the UEM-EPF offer.

"We expect Plus' share price to come under pressure today and could possibly fall to the RM4.36 level, which was the closing price before the Jelas Ulung offer was made," it said in a research note today.

OSK Research also downgraded its rating on Plus to neutral from trading buy.

Another research firm, ECM Libra also dowgraded its call to hold, as the firm believed Plus would come under selling pressure following the elevated optimism of another competing offer from MMC Corp Bhd not materialising.

"We advise investors to take profits now, premised on continued uncertainty of the takeover, long gestation period to complete the exercise, limited upside of just 10 percent even if Jelas Ulung's offer was accepted and opportunity cost amid a market rally," it said.

- Bernama