KUALA LUMPUR: Being the eighth company to be listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia this year has proven to be fortuitous for palm oil plantation player and property developer Tanah Makmur Bhd, as its shares debuted at an impressive RM1.60 on market opening at 9am yesterday, 35 sen higher than the offer price of RM1.25.
By 10.30am, it had already peaked at RM1.98, before stabilising and hovering around the RM1.90 mark before lunchtime. The stock closed at RM1.94, having been parked in the top-three spot of the most active and top gainer categories on Bursa.
This is despite share prices on Bursa generally ending lower yesterday on selling pressure, which is in line with regional bourses.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI closed 3.57 points lower at 1,883.14.
The firm attributed its debut price to the group’s good track record and potential growth prospect.
“The successful listing of Tanah Makmur will put us in good stead to further accelerate group’s growth. Our aim is to elevate it into a more prominent position by focusing on plantation and property development businesses,” said Tanah Makmur chairman Tengku Dr Meriam Sultan Ahmad Shah.
“Our plans moving forward is to carry out replanting and new planting programmes, grow our plantation landbank through the cooperation with our major shareholder, Lembaga Kemajuan Perusahaan Pertanian Negeri Pahang, increase our palm oil mill capacity, continue to develop the KotaSAS township in Kuantan, and obtain our Round-table on Sustainable Palm Oil)/ Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil accreditations,” she said.
The issuance of initial public offering prospectus saw a very positive response from the investment community. As a result of 26.4 million shares being allocated for the Malaysian public, the company received applications for 309.02 million shares, registering an oversubscription rate of 14.45 times.
From the total listing proceeds of RM65.2 million, RM28.5 million (44 per cent) will be used for estate development, RM5 million (eight per cent) for expansion of palm oil mill, RM13 million (20 per cent) for infrastructure work of the KotaSAS Township, RM13.1 million (20 per cent) for repayment of bank borrowings and RM5.5 million (eight per cent) for listing expenses.
