Kumpulan Jetson acquires ACL for RM11m

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): Property developer and automotive parts manufacturer Kumpulan Jetson Bhd has acquired a 100% stake in China-based Asian Corp Ltd (ACL) for RM11 million.

The purchase price was a 22.5% discount to ACL's net assets of RM14.2 million, and its main asset is a 57,737 square metre industrial land in Yangzhou City, China.

Its group managing director Datuk Teh Kian An said: "We are developing the land into the Jetson Integrated Industrial Park (JIIP), the first industrial park in Yangzhou and is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2014.

"The estimated gross development value and estimated gross development cost are RM174.4 million and RM124.6 million respectively."

He was speaking at a press briefing after the Group's Extraordinary General Meeting here on Thursday.

Teh also said that the company currently exports between 25-30% of its manufactured products overseas, with China being a major market.

"We have to be in China to further improve our manufactured items, mainly the anti-vibration system business," he added.

Kumpulan Jetson Bhd's executive director Lee Chee Hoe said the company was also in talks with auto parts firms and government international trade agencies to participate in the JIIP project and take advantage of the China market.

"We believe this will be an easier platform for them to move into China.

"To date, we have completed three units of factories in the JIIP, and will start production of the anti-vibration system in the second quarter of this year.

"We will be occupying three factories and move some of our production there. Initially, we will serve the Chinese domestic market, eventually using China as an export base serving Asian markets.

"We foresee this to be a huge potential for us as China is the world's largest vehicle market, with 18.5 million units sold in 2011, compared with 600,000 in Malaysia," he added.

He also said that Jetson's plant in China will free up some capacity in Malaysia, thus providing more opportunities to start looking into other markets, like India and Iran.

"We foresee the construction development division of this project to contribute positively to our earnings between 2012-2014, and the manufacturing division in 2014," he added.

The JIIP consists of 10 units of factories, four blocks of four-storey exchange centres, a six-storey hostel and six-storey production centre. — Bernama