PETALING JAYA: Interest in Time Engineering Bhd shares soared yesterday as the debt-free ICT firm is said to have attracted three bidders to take up a controlling stake in it.
Time’s share price shot up to an intra-day high of 42 sen before it retreated to finish at 40.5 sen yesterday, up 15.7% or 5.5 sen from last Friday’s closing.
Some 89.02 million Time shares changed hands yesterday, the highest level since November 2010, making it the third most actively traded stock on Bursa Malaysia.
The Edge weekly reported that Khazanah Nasional Bhd has three bidders for its 45.03% stake in Time and the government investment arm is in the midst of evaluating the proposals from the bidders.
The weekly gathered that the bidders were likely to be ICT consultancy firm Zamcorp Bhd, IT solutions company MM Tech Corp, and an entity linked to tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary.
“The three were recently asked to submit their proposed business plan for Time, including their offer price. The offers are generally at a slight premium to the stock’s current trading levels, though there are parties reluctant to pay more than the net asset value,” The Edge weekly said, quoting an unnamed source.
Some quarters speculated that there could be a general offer in the pipeline should the new shareholder take over the entire 45.03% equity stake currently held by Khazanah.
It is worth to note that Khazanah and national asset manager Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) have plans to divest some of their non-core assets to bumiputera entrepreneurs through open tender as the government pushes for more equity ownership in the hands of bumiputera investors. Recently, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was quoted as saying that the best and most capable bumiputera firms will get to own the companies.
However, some quarters wonder about the intrinsic value of Time, which sold its crown jewel Time dotCom Bhd (TdC) for RM331.9 million to trim its borrowings.
Observers noted that Time’s main appeal is its cash pile which has increased quite substantially, derived from the proceeds of the TdC’s disposal. However, it has utilised 80% of the proceeds to pay off its debts, and is left with about RM68 million, of which the group said is available for investments as and when such opportunities arise, and also for its capital expenditure.
Time has a clean balance sheet now after it paid off its borrowing. As at Sept 30, 2011, Time had RM132.2 million in cash and its equivalents and RM24.4 million in receivables, deposits and pre-payments, and almost no debts. At book value per share of 20 sen, the stock is currently trading at 2.03 times, while its net tangible assets per share stood at 19 sen.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, February 14, 2012.
Time’s share price shot up to an intra-day high of 42 sen before it retreated to finish at 40.5 sen yesterday, up 15.7% or 5.5 sen from last Friday’s closing.
Some 89.02 million Time shares changed hands yesterday, the highest level since November 2010, making it the third most actively traded stock on Bursa Malaysia.
The Edge weekly reported that Khazanah Nasional Bhd has three bidders for its 45.03% stake in Time and the government investment arm is in the midst of evaluating the proposals from the bidders.
The weekly gathered that the bidders were likely to be ICT consultancy firm Zamcorp Bhd, IT solutions company MM Tech Corp, and an entity linked to tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary.
“The three were recently asked to submit their proposed business plan for Time, including their offer price. The offers are generally at a slight premium to the stock’s current trading levels, though there are parties reluctant to pay more than the net asset value,” The Edge weekly said, quoting an unnamed source.
Some quarters speculated that there could be a general offer in the pipeline should the new shareholder take over the entire 45.03% equity stake currently held by Khazanah.
It is worth to note that Khazanah and national asset manager Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) have plans to divest some of their non-core assets to bumiputera entrepreneurs through open tender as the government pushes for more equity ownership in the hands of bumiputera investors. Recently, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was quoted as saying that the best and most capable bumiputera firms will get to own the companies.
However, some quarters wonder about the intrinsic value of Time, which sold its crown jewel Time dotCom Bhd (TdC) for RM331.9 million to trim its borrowings.
Observers noted that Time’s main appeal is its cash pile which has increased quite substantially, derived from the proceeds of the TdC’s disposal. However, it has utilised 80% of the proceeds to pay off its debts, and is left with about RM68 million, of which the group said is available for investments as and when such opportunities arise, and also for its capital expenditure.
Time has a clean balance sheet now after it paid off its borrowing. As at Sept 30, 2011, Time had RM132.2 million in cash and its equivalents and RM24.4 million in receivables, deposits and pre-payments, and almost no debts. At book value per share of 20 sen, the stock is currently trading at 2.03 times, while its net tangible assets per share stood at 19 sen.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, February 14, 2012.
