Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd. aims to raise as much as 2 billion ringgit ($647 million) in the Southeast Asian country’s biggest initial share offer so far this year, said two people familiar with the matter.
Its prospectus will be unveiled on Oct. 6, according to an e-mailed invitation today from its parent, MISC Bhd., the world’s biggest owner-operator of liquefied natural gas tankers. Malaysia Marine will start taking orders from investors the same day, said the two people, declining to be identified as the information isn’t public.
The IPO may surpass Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust’s 1.5 billion offering, Malaysia’s biggest share sale so far this year, and underscores rising investor appetite for equities in Malaysia amid an economic rebound from last year’s recession.
Malaysia Marine plans to use some proceeds from the share sale to help upgrade its Pasir Gudang engineering shipyard in the country’s southern Johor state, according to an earlier draft prospectus. It also intends to invest in the Kiyanly yard in Turkmenistan which it manages for Petronas Carigali Sdn., it said.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Maybank Investment Bank Bhd. and Credit Suisse Group AG are managing the share sale. MISC set an indicative initial offer price of 3.80 ringgit per share for the listing of Malaysia Marine, according to a circular approved by shareholders on Sept. 22. MISC declined to comment on sale size, the company said by e-mail today.
MISC is controlled by state oil and gas company, Petroliam Nasional Bhd., which said on April 8 it also list its petrochemicals business this year, following the prime minister’s call for government-linked companies to sell assets and attract foreign investors.
MISC said on July 23 it intends to sell a 25.5 percent stake in Malaysia Marine. The unit posted net income of 279 million ringgit in the year ended March 31, compared with 278 million ringgit a year earlier. - http://www.bloomberg.com
