Matang makes firm debut on Bursa Malaysia

JF Apex Research: "Over a medium to long term outlook, we are cautious on the FBM KLCI performance as it still treads below the 100- and 200-day moving averages at 1,650 and 1,700 points respectively."

KUALA LUMPUR: Oil palm plantation company Matang Bhd made a firm debut on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, rising to an early high of 15 sen amid a cautious broader market.

It opened at 14 sen, which was one sen above its offer price of 13 sen, with about 40.8 million shares done.

At 9.05am, it was trading at 15 sen with 77.72 million shares done.

The FBM KLCI inched up 1.65 points or 0.1% to 1,660.49, after falling more than 13 points the previous day on foreign selling of key stocks.

Turnover was 118.05 million shares valued at RM23.76mil. There were 74 gainers, 58 losers and 129 counters unchanged.

Matang Bhd will focus on replanting exercise and improving yield as well as cost efficiency after listing. 

Matang said its target was to replant 16.4 hectares of its plantation area this year to improve the overall age profile of its oil palm trees. 

At the same time the group would increase its fresh fruit bunches yield through greater usage of fertilisers, and improve operational efficiency by upgrading road infrastructure and water drainage system in Matang Estate and to purchase new equipment for its operations, using part of the proceeds raised from the IPO.

The group said it would spend RM9mil out of the RM16.9 mil raised from the IPO for the purpose of purchasing fertilisers for the estate over the next five years.

Matang chairman Datuk Teh Kian Ming said the performance of the palm oil industry as a whole in 2016 was expected to remain robust due to favourable crude palm oil price levels currently at RM3,000 per metric tonne.

Its public offer of 130 million new 10 sen shares were oversubscribed 4.21 times. 

Of the total IPO proceeds of RM16.90mil, Matang will allocate RM11.92mil (or 70.5%) for general working capital requirements to finance Matang’s operations over the next five years.

Another RM2.55mil (or 15.1%) will be allocated for capital expenditure to enhance the operational effectiveness of Matang’s estates, and RM250,000 (or 1.5%) will be used for a replanting exercise to further improve the oil palm trees’ age profile of Matang estate.

The remaining RM2.18mil (or 12.9%) will be used to defray listing expenses for the IPO

Matang Bhd is truly one of the success stories championed by MCA whose dynamic vision was to consolidate small Chinese businesses since early 1970s.

Matang’s unit Matang Holdings, under the guidance of Johor-based MCA, has successfully galvanised the investment of a group of smallholders for the company’s involvement in the thriving oil palm industry.

Now with about 1,096ha of oil palm estates under its belt, the board of Matang Holdings has deemed it as timely to undertake an initial public offering (IPO) exercise under a special purpose vehicle, Matang Bhd.

The Matang group owns an oil palm plantation estate of about 1,096.3ha that spans across Segamat and Ledang districts in Johor.