PetroSaudi raises stake in UBG to 89.8%

KUALA LUMPUR: PetroSaudi International Ltd’s effective stake in UBG Bhd will rise to 89.8% after three shareholders agreed to sell their stakes, UBG said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

Concordance Holdings Sdn Bhd, PPES Works (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd and Majestic Masterpiece Sdn Bhd would sell PetroSaudi a total 449.5 million shares in UBG at RM2.50 each, it said.

Concordance and PPES Works, which are subsidiaries of Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd, are disposing of their combined 37.2% stake in UBG for RM465.5mil.

Majestic Masterpiece, a unit of Abu Dhabi-Kuwait-Malaysia Investment Corp, is selling its 52.6% stake to PetroSaudi. The acquisitions will trigger a mandatory takeover of all the remaining UBG shares not owned by PetroSaudi.

In a statement dated Jan 8, PetroSaudi said it would also be required to buy out Loh & Loh Corp Bhd and Putrajaya Perdana Bhd, in which UBG owns more than 80% stake each, following its acquisition of UBG.

To recap, UBG divested its 32.8 % equity stake in Rashid Hussain Bhd in 2007 and bought into Loh & Loh and Putrajaya Perdana in 2008. The company’s aim then was to focus on construction.

Last year, UBG was reported to have purchased Pearl Thailand (Holdings) Ltd (PTH) for US$19.2mil.

PTH has participating interest in six offshore petroleum concessions in Thailand – 20% in four of them and 25% in the remaining two. Pearl Energy, the vendor of PTH, continues to hold the majority working interest in the offshore concessions through subsidiaries after the transaction. Pearl Energy is an upstream oil and gas player in South-East Asia, with a capacity to produce over 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

PetroSaudi is a privately-owned oil exploration and production company founded in 2000 by chief executive Tarek Essam Ahmad Obaid and private investors.

According to its website, the company is involved in oil and gas projects in energy-producing regions around the world, with offices in Saudi Arabia, England and Switzerland.

Last September, PetroSaudi and the Malaysian government via 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) set up a joint venture fund of US$2.5bil to spearhead foreign direct investment from the Middle East into Malaysia as well as to make strategic investments in high impact projects in Malaysia. Of the total fund amount, 1MDB was to invest US$1bil while the rest would come from PetroSaudi.

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