Sunway president Anuar Taib said IJM will continue operating as usual within the nine-month period while the group explores collaboration opportunities in the construction sector.

“We must deliver the contracts they have, and we must also deliver ours, but we can start to look at things like joint procurement because we can buy things together.

“IJM’s strength is in civil construction. We might go and bid for the MRT or Penang LRT projects on that side, and then do a data centre on the Sunway side,” he told Bernama.

Anuar said that in the long-term, the group believes the entities should be merged to remain integrated.

“We will put our people on the board because we do need different stewards. Then, we will run an integration team headed by me, and we will look at people on both sides.

“We will look at how the organisations can be merged, and I believe they have about 3,600 people, while we have 20,000 people, and I don’t think anyone will actually lose their jobs,” he added.

Anuar also said Sunway would subsequently evaluate its approach to property development.

“One thing about us, I don’t think we’ve ever sold land. We buy and take a 20, 30, or 40-year view to develop it, so I’m not in a rush.

“We are not in a rush to let go of any of the land. We take time to evaluate and then come up with a different plan.”

Recently, 99.27% of Sunway’s shareholders voted in favour of proceeding with the IJM takeover bid.

The group said its offer price of RM3.15 per share was the best it could offer and that it would walk away if IJM’s shareholders choose not to accept it.

Sunway’s offer will remain open for acceptance until 5pm on April 6.

The proposed conditional voluntary takeover to acquire all ordinary shares in IJM will be satisfied by 10% in cash and 90% in Sunway shares.

To date, Permodalan Nasional Bhd, the second-largest shareholder, and the EPF, IJM’s largest shareholder, have rejected the offer.