KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 7): Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made the news on Thursday: Jentayu Sustainables Bhd, LFE Corp Bhd, Berjaya Food Bhd, Vizione Holdings Bhd, Critical Holdings Bhd, Chin Hin Group Bhd, CPE Technology Bhd.
Less than five months after completing a private placement in July, Jentayu Sustainables Bhd is planning another placement — this round to raise up to RM62.96 million — for the clean energy solutions provider to fund its pre-development expenditures, new projects and working capital. The second placement exercise came after the group issued 96.94 million shares in July that saw it raise RM11.1 million for its pre-development spending. Announced in June last year, the July placement was initially planned to raise as much as RM47.07 million by placing out up to 142.63 million shares that represented not more than 30% of its issued shares at the time. Based on an illustrative issue price of RM1.22 per share — a 10% discount to the five-day volume weighted average market price of Jentayu shares — the latest private placement is expected to raise up to RM62.96 million.
LFE Corp Bhd has seen a change in the ownership of an 8.87% stake in the construction and mechanical and electrical (M&E) services group held through Resolute Accomplishment Sdn Bhd. LFE executive chairman Chuah Chong Ewe acquired the stake, comprising 98.37 million shares on Monday, while another filing showed that Audrey Chua Mei Ling had disposed of the same amount of LFE shares held through Resolute Accomplishment. Based on the closing price of 18.5 sen on Monday, the transaction would be worth RM18.19 million. Audrey Chua acquired the shares on May 25 when LFE issued new shares to partially fund the acquisition of the remaining 49% stake in its 51%-owned construction firm Cosmo Property Management Sdn Bhd.
The share price of Berjaya Food Bhd, which operates the Starbucks franchise in Malaysia, has tumbled 16% over the last two months, bringing its year-to-date decline to 42.3%. The F&B retailer’s share price closed at 60 sen on Thursday after 9.1 million shares were traded, up half a sen from Wednesday’s close but down 11.5 sen from its closing price of 71.5 sen on Oct 6. Its current share price gives the group a market capitalisation of RM1.17 billion. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct 7, some Malaysians have pledged to boycott companies with alleged ties to Israel ― with reports claiming that the boycott also targeted Starbucks outlets.
Vizione Holdings Bhd has secured a RM490 million contract as a turnkey contractor to build three blocks of apartments in the Kota Kinabalu district in Sabah. The group said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Bina Permai Sdn Bhd, was awarded the project — located at Jalan Sepangar Menggatal — by Hardie Development Sdn Bhd. The contract, slated to be completed within 36 months, is not expected to have any effect on the group's issued share capital and substantial shareholders’ shareholdings, said Vizione.
Critical Holdings Bhd, which is set to make its ACE Market debut on Dec 18, announced on Thursday that the public portion of its initial public offering has been oversubscribed by 88.08 times. The mechanical, electrical and process utilities engineering company said in a statement that it received 13,038 applications for 1.66 billion shares, for the 18.59 million new shares that were available for public subscription. Out of the 13,038 application, 7,379 were for 739.26 million shares for the Bumiputera portion, while 5,659 applications were for 916.55 million shares under the remaining portion. The Bumiputera portion recorded an oversubscription rate of 78.55 times, while the remaining public portion was oversubscribed by 97.62 times.
Chin Hin Group Bhd has filed its establishment of a perpetual medium-term note (MTN), in a bid to raise up to RM500 million, with the Securities Commission Malaysia.The group said proceeds raised from the issuance of the perpetual MTN shall be utilised for capital expenditures to finance acquisitions, refinance existing financing or borrowings or future financing, working capital, other general corporate purposes and defraying fees, as well as costs and expenses related to this programme. The perpetual MTN programme is not rated. AmInvestment Bank Bhd is the principal adviser, lead arranger, lead manager and facility agent for the perpetual MTN programme.
Main Market debutante CPE Technology Bhd opened at 90 sen on Thursday, a 17 sen or 15.89% discount over its initial public offering price of RM1.07, with an opening volume of 6.31 million shares. TA Securities Holdings Bhd has valued the company at RM1.13 a share, followed by Apex Securities Bhd at RM1.25 and Public Investment Bank Bhd at RM1.27. CPE is involved in the manufacturing of precision-machine parts and components, and provision of computer numerical control machining services. Its main customers include those in the semiconductor, life science and medical devices, and sports equipment industries, with key clients in the US, Singapore and Malaysia.