Red Sena eyes qualifying acquisition before Feb 2018

New high for Dagang NeXchange Bhd

KUALA LUMPUR: Red Sena Bhd, the only listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) specialising in food and beverage, targets to announce its first qualifying acquisition (QA) before February 2018.

Its business development director Ian Yoong Kah Yin said the company has been screening more than 50 potential deals across the region, including from Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.

"This year would be a good year for asset acquisition in the F&B sector, compared to in the last two years.

"Profitability has  peaked for the F&B sector in the Asean region in financial years 2015 and 2016. More businesses may want to sell their assets or part of their business this year," he told reporters after Red Sena's AGM on Tuesday.

Red Sena was the first SPAC that specialises in F&B. A SPAC has no revenue-generating assets at the time of listing.

It raised about RM400mil from initial public offering in December 2015 of which 92% of the proceeds was kept in a trust account.

As at end-December 2016, its trust account had RM374.06mil.