KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Billionaire Ananda Krishnan is leading a $2.57 billion buyout offer for Malaysian pay-TV monopoly Astro All Asia Networks plc after loss-making overseas expansion bled the company.

Astro on Wednesday said it has received an offer from Astro Holdings, a special purpose vehicle controlled by Ananda and state investment firm Khazanah Nasional, to buy out the remaining 28 percent of shares in the company at 4.30 ringgit a share.

The offer marks a 21 percent premium to Astro's market value of $2.08 billion or its last price of 3.56 ringgit a share before trading in the shares were suspended on Monday.

Ananda owns 42.4 per cent of Astro while Khazanah Nasional has a 21.4 percent stake in Astro.

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the country's biggest pension fund, has a 7.37 percent stake in Astro. The EPF is not a shareholder of Astro Holdings, the offeror.

The privatisation will allow Astro to focus on its overseas operations which still require heavy capital investment, Astro Holdings said.

"As a public listed entity, substantial capital requirements needed for its growth plans may potentially strain the cash flow position and may impair Astro," it said in a statement.

"A relisting would certainly be considered when Astro achieves a more stable earnings profile," Astro Holdings said.

Despite its hugely profitable Malaysian operations, Astro posted a net loss of 529 million ringgit ($139.2 million) in fiscal 2009, dragged down by massive losses at its overseas operations in Indonesia and India.

Astro owns 20 percent of India's Sun Direct TV while its Indonesian pay-TV joint venture has fallen apart since 2008 due to a contract dispute.

The offer by Astro Holdings on Wednesday is a replica of a 2007 deal by Ananda which involved the delisting of top telecoms company Maxis Communications Berhad following a series of expensive acquisitions in India and Indonesia. [ID:nKLR501438]

Ananda, ranked by Forbes magazine as Asia's 14th richest man with a net worth of $7.6 billion, last year cheered investors when he relisted his prized Malaysian telecommunications assets on the local bourse in a $3.3 billion offering.

The delisting of Astro shares from the stock exchange may benefit its closest rival Media Prima (MPRM.KL), a free-to-air broadcasting monopoly.

CIMB Investment Bank, the lead advisor for the deal, expects the privatisation of Astro to be completed by mid-June.

"By taking Astro private, (Ananda) would have more freedom in taking corporate actions without having to seek shareholders approval," TA Securities said in a research note before the privatisation announcement.