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KAJANG: Protasco Bhd is extending its acquisition timeline for Indonesian oil and gas firm PT Anglo Slavic Indonesia (PTI ASI) from Sept 30 to March 31, 2014, said group managing director Datuk Chong Ket Pen.
He said after the EGM yesterday that the vendor, PT Anglo Slavic Utama (PT ASU), had requested an extension to fulfil its “legal duty”, and new conditions laid down by Protasco have to be complied with by March 31 next year.
Protasco had previously extended the timeline to July 31 to complete the due diligence.
“But I think we don’t need to stretch until March 31, 2014,” said Chong, adding that most of the documents have been finalised. “We will be able to wrap up [the legal documents] before the due date.”
To recap, Protasco proposed last December to acquire a 76% stake in PTI ASI, or 95 million shares from PT ASU for a purchase consideration of US$55 million (RM178 million). PTI ASI owns an indirect interest in an oil field in Kuala Simpang Timur Field in the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Province in Indonesia.
According to Chong, the consideration for PTI ASI could turn out lower than US$55 million, but he declined to elaborate.
On top of the purchase to be agreed upon, he said, Protasco will invest an additional US$30 million to US$40 million to “sink more wells” provided that the acquisition is completed.
Protasco would also consider digging the existing wells. “There are about 30 wells and they are 1,000m deep. We need to invest US$1.5 million to US$2 million to dig one well,” Chong said.
He said the costs are recoverable with reimbursement from Indonesia’s state oil major Pertamina. “But this will depend on whether the acquisition [of PTI ASI] is successful.”
On Protasco’s property segment, Chong said the 100-acre (40ha) De Centrum city in Kajang will be four times the size of Mid Valley City when it is fully developed.
The first phase of De Centrum is 30% completed, he said, adding that piling has been done. “We have a few units of our service apartments left and we have sold almost all our shoplots.” The total gross development value (GDV) of the first phase is RM240 million.
With a selling price of RM500 psf, the take-up rate of its small office/home office (SoHo) development in De Centrum is more than 50%, Chong said. “The reason for the take-up rate at being only 50% is because we just launched the SoHo two months ago.”
Protasco plans to launch the second phase of De Centrum by the middle of next year, with a GDV of RM500 million.
“For phase 2A, our planner is now trying to fine-tune that parcel of land,” Chong said, adding that the company would probably construct an office and apartment block each. “Phase 2B will comprise a hotel and a convention centre.”
In Iskandar Malaysia, Protasco recently tied up with Asdion Bhd to undertake property projects on five parcels of leasehold land of 5.8ha in Plentong, Johor, to be acquired from Johor Corp for RM29.6 million.
According to Chong, the land in Plentong could produce a GDV of RM1 billion. “We are still at the purchasing stage and we are going to sign the sale and purchase agreement [for the land] in a few days.”
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 02, 2013.
