KUALA LUMPUR: Vastalux Energy Bhd dipped below its initial public offer price (IPO) of 75 sen on its debut on the Bursa Malaysia second board yesterday.
Its share price hit 58 sen at the opening bell with 900 shares transacted and closed at 52.5 sen, down 22.5 sen or 30%.The total volume of the day stood at 5.5 million shares.
Executive director Azman Abd Ghafar said the opening price was expected due to the soft equity market.
“We are confident that our value would be reflected after the market recovers and supported by the company’s good fundamentals,” he said after the listing ceremony.
Vastalux chairman Tan Sri Zainol Abidin Abd Rashid hitting the gong to mark the company listing on the second board. With him are Azman Abd Ghafar and other company directors
He said the company would acquire two or three workboats or workbarges by next year at the cost of RM40mil to RM60mil each.
“We want to grow our revenue contribution from overseas markets to 30% in the next three to five years from about 5% currently,” he said.
Azman said the company would invest RM10mil, that was raised from its IPO, for its business expansion in the next 24 months.
He said the company intended to expand into key growth markets such as the Philippines, the Middle East and North Africa from next year, and India and Myanmar by 2011.
“We are now in Indonesia and Vietnam,” he said.
He said the company was currently bidding for contracts worth RM700mil in the domestic market, of that about 60% was from Petroliam Nasional Bhd and its subsidiaries.
On Vasalux’s public shareholding, he said: “We are confident of fulfilling the requirement within the next six months and are involved in talks with a merchant banker to explore a private or other placement to placees who are deemed public now.”
The company has been given until March 11 to comply with Bursa’s listing requirements of having a minimum 1,000 public shareholders.
It has only 698 public shareholders holding no less than 100 shares each.
