KUALA LUMPUR (July 8): Magna Prima Bhd said it is in the process of evaluating the offers it has received for the prime lands it is looking to sell, which are located around the Klang Valley area.

“We are quite serious about selling the prime lands we own. So far, we have gotten a few offers, but we are still waiting for some of the bidders to re-adjust their price. Hopefully, we can conclude that in the future,” CEO Datuk Rahadian Mahmud Mohammad Khalil told the press, after the group’s extraordinary general meeting today.

He said the company is in talks with a few players, including major property companies, but did not reveal who the parties were.

Currently, the group has over 30 acres of prime landbank, inclusive of the lands they are looking to dispose.

“We will replenish our landbank, if we sell the lands. The sale will net us quite a substantial amount of money. We will reuse that capital to acquire more fast-turnaround kind of projects,” said Rahadian.

The group is already browsing for new tracts to acquire around the Greater KL — Klang Valley areas, he added.

To recap, some of the prime lands it owns include the 20-acre tract in Section 15, Shah Alam, the former site of SJK (C) Lai Meng in Kuala Lumpur, and two parcels in Petaling Jaya.

Rahadian highlighted the company may reconsider selling its tracts, depending on which land Magna gets to sell off first, and the general outlook of the market.

He said the move to dispose some of Magna’s (fundamental: 1.1; valuation: 2) prime tracts is a defensive move, due to the current uncertain outlook for the Malaysian economic environment.

“Everybody knows that Malaysia is now in a bit of a precarious, unstable position. So we have to strengthen our company internally, to improve our liquidity position to weather any storms that may appear,” he said, adding that the company will not be pursuing overseas developments, due to the weak currency outlook.

He also mentioned that Magna is looking to diversify its revenue stream, to be less dependent on property development, but declined to comment further as the company is still exploring its options.

Despite the cloudy outlook for the Malaysian market, the company said it will remain profitable this year, supported by the completion of The Istana in Melbourne, Australia, and its two ongoing projects, the Boulevard Business Park in Jalan Kuching, and 36 shop offices in Desa Mentari, Bandar Sunway.

“This year, we will perform well, because we completed the Australian project and we will be completing Phase 1 of the Jalan Kuching project, so for this year, we will not have any issues with our performance,” Rahadian said.

Magna Prima was traded at RM1.15 at 12.30pm today, down one sen or 0.86%. Its market capitalisation was RM386.15 million.

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