KLIG plans to use 95% of proceeds to pay up debts

BY IZWAN IDRIS

KL Infrastructure Group Bhd (KLIG), which hopes to be listed on the KLSE main board by June this year, plans to use 95% of the projected RM100mil proceeds to retire borrowings, executive director Al-Jeffery Ibrahim said. 

KLIG is the holding company of KL Monorail System Sdn Bhd, the concession holder and operator of the KL Monorail project. The mo-norail is expected to start operation by August.  

For its initial public offering (IPO), KLIG is offering 202.3 million shares of 50 sen each at 51 sen per share, the bulk of it offered to institutional funds and other approved investors. 

KLIG will make available 10 million shares for the Malaysian public and 8 million for KLIG directors and employees, also at 51 sen per share. 

The managing underwriter for the offer is Malaysian International Merchant Bankers Bhd (MIMB) and co-underwriters are OSK Se-curities Bhd and Mercury Secu-rities Sdn Bhd. 

“The company is expected to release the prospectus within a week or two,” Al-Jeffery told reporters at the underwriting ceremony in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. 

Al-Jeffery Ibrahim (left) exchanging documents with MIMB deputy CEO Dr Sheikh Awab. Witnessing the event are KLIG chairman Datuk Ahmad Saadi (second from left) and MIMB chairman Datuk Annuar Maaruf.

“We are optimistic that the offer would be well received by the public,” he said. 

He said that as a public-listed company, KLIG would be commercially viable as it has three income generating activities. 

“We expect ticket sales from our monorail operations to generate enough cashflow to sustain the company,” Al-Jeffery said. 

Fares for the monorail service are priced from RM1.20 to RM2.50. Ridership is projected at 85,000 people a day. 

KLIG also expects steady income from advertising and rental of retail space at the monorail stations. 

According to Al-Jeffery, the group has forecast the number of passengers to increase to 115,000 per day in 2005 and to almost 200,000 per day by 2010. 

He said the ridership estimates were “conservative figures” compared with the actual number of passengers utilising the two light rail transit services offered by Putra and STAR, which already top the 100,000 mark daily. 

Meanwhile, the group expects to open the 1st phase of the riverside redevelopment project in Brickfields, known as Jalan-Jalan, by the end of the year.  

“The project, consisting of retail and hawker areas, will be ready by December this year. This would provide additional revenue to the group,” Al-Jeffery said.