Vertice falls as much as 8.82% on denying involvement in Penang mega project

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 17): Vertice Bhd, formerly known as Voir Holdings Bhd, fell as much as 8.82% in the morning trade today after the company denied it is involved in the scandal-ridden Penang mega infrastructure project, aside from its recent investment of 13.21% in Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd.

At 10.20am, the apparel retailer pared some of its loss and was down one sen or 1.18% to 84 sen with 923,600 shares traded for a market capitalisation of RM123.42 million. The stock had earlier fallen to a low of 77.5 sen.

The counter has been trending downwards ever since Consortium Zenith was reported as one of the three companies raided by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) last Tuesday (Jan 9).

In a statement yesterday, the group said “Vertice is not a contractor of the project”, clarifying its venture into construction activities via its wholly-owned subsidiary Vertice Construction Sdn Bhd was 100% approved by shareholders on Nov 22, 2017.

The approval included Vertice’s subscription for a stake in Consortium Zenith, which was awarded the RM6.3 billion Penang mega infrastructure project in 2013.

Meanwhile, Main Market-listed Ewein Bhd's share price remained unchanged at 42 sen with 140,500 shares exchanging hands, giving it a market capitalisation of RM126.67 million.

Ewein saw its share price take a beating since the raid on its 73%-owned subsidiary Ewein Zenith Sdn Bhd.

Ewein released a statement saying the group and its subsidiaries are not involved in any way in the Penang undersea tunnel project. This follows reports its group managing director Datuk Ewe Swee Kheng was among those remanded by the MACC in relation to its ongoing investigation.

“Ewein, via its subsidiary Ewein Land Sdn Bhd, merely entered into a joint venture (JV) with Consortium Zenith in 2013 to develop a piece of land in Bandar Tanjong Pinang, Penang,” the group said in a statement yesterday, adding it did not acquire the land from the Penang state government. — theedgemarkets.com

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