Westports to consider $600m share sale in Malaysia
Westports Malaysia Sdn, a port operator part-owned by Li Ka-Shing’s Hutchison Port Holdings Ltd, is considering an initial public offering to raise about $600 million (Dh2.2 billion), said three people with knowledge of the matteк , Bloomberg reports.
The company, which runs terminals at Port Klang on Malaysia’s west coast, has been in talks with banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Malayan Banking Bhd and AmInvestment Bank Bhd about arranging the IPO, said the people, asking not to be named as the process is private. The amount raised could be higher once valuations have been completed, one person said.
Malaysian first-time share sales have defied a global slump, with Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd and IHH Healthcare Bhd rewarding shareholders with stock-market gains after completing two of the world’s three biggest IPOs this year. Pay-TV operator Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd and power producer Malakoff Bhd are among other companies planning IPOs on the country’s stock exchange.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index has risen 7.7 per cent this year, closing at a record high on Aug. 15.
Westports’ shareholders are likely to sell stock in the IPO, two of the people said. Billionaire Li controls 31.5 per cent of Westports through Hong Kong-listed Hutchison Port, according to parent Hutchison Whampoa Ltd’s 2011 annual report.
The Malaysian company, founded by Executive Chairman G. Gnanalingam, today has a 67 per cent share of container volume at Port Klang, with five terminals and potential to build another four, according to its website. It handled container throughput of more than 6.4 million of 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last year, the company said.
Chief Executive Officer Ruben Emir Gnanalingam couldn’t be immediately reached by phone on Friday for comment on the IPO plan. Dow Jones on August 20 said Westports planned to raise as much as $1 billion in an IPO, citing unidentified people.
Westports posted a 6.8 per cent decline in pretax profit to 358.9 million ringgit (Dh425.6 million, $116 million) on revenue of 1.12 billion ringgit last year, according to an April report released by Malaysia Rating Corp.