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KUALA LUMPUR: Kumpulan Europlus Bhd (KEuro) plans to exit as shareholder of Talam Transform Bhd over the next 12 months, said the group’s independent non-executive director Datuk Oh Chong Peng.
“We have a plan to exit Talam since it does not fit into our plans,” he told reporters after KEuro’s annual general meeting yesterday.
In July, KEuro disposed of 230 million shares or a 5.45% stake in Talam Transform to Jejak Progresif Sdn Bhd, an investment vehicle belonging to Tan Sri Chan Ah Chye, for 9.4 sen apiece. Last Thursday, KEuro said it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with Chan to sell 840 million shares to him at 11 sen per share.
As for the group’s rights issue, Oh said a portion of the funds raised would go towards settling the group’s loans, while some would be used as equity investment in the West Coast Expressway (WCE) project.
“For a short period of time, we will be debt-free until WCE [Sdn Bhd] has to start raising funds to start building, so the money will be going mainly into WCE to kick off the project,” he said, adding that there are no plans to raise further funds after the rights issue.
On the group’s performance for the financial year ending March 31, 2015, Oh said prospects for the group’s profitability should be positive for the coming year.
Oh said KEuro would be recognising revenue from its Bandar Rimbayu township in Shah Alam, the construction of the WCE, and its trading and manufacturing subsidiaries.
For the first quarter ended June 30, KEuro posted a net profit of RM39.3 million, which was attributed to the reversal of provision for impairment of RM36.69 million made on the company’s investment in its associate, Talam Transform.
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on August 29, 2014.
