World's second-largest liquefied natural gas shipper MISC Bhd. caught much attention in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia when Employees Provident Fund, its biggest minority shareholder, asked Petroliam Nasional Bhd. to increase its price to buy out the shipper.

Azlan Zainol, EPF's chief executive officer, said during an interview that Petroliam Nasional, a state-owned oil and gas group in Malaysia also known as Petronas, should raise its general offer worth 8.8 billion ringgit per share.

Earlier, MISC's minority shareholders Pacific Mutual Fund Bhd and Penang Development Corp. told Bloomberg News that they thought Petronas' offer too low. Adding to that, RHB Capital Bhd analyst Ahmad Maghfur Usman wrote in a report that shipper's shareholders should decline to accept the bid, suggesting higher price for buyout.

On the other hand, Shamsul Azhar Abbar, chief executive officer of Petronas, was quoted in the Edge newspaper saying that it is fine to them even if their offer gets rejected by the shareholders, claiming that MISC is suffering from a 'sick' business.

Petronas already has holdings in MISC amounting to 63%.