PDZ Maju at Northport terminal.
KUALA LUMPUR: Pelaburan Mara Bhd (PMB), the single largest shareholder in PDZ Holdings Bhd
, and another PDZ shareholder have requested for an EGM seeking to remove Aminuddin Yusof Lana as a director and to appoint new auditors.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the loss-making shipping company said PMB and Kua Khai Loon proposed to remove Aminuddin, who turns 68 on Sunday, as director with immediate effect and to appoint Cheng & Co as new auditors to replace PKF for the 18-month financial period ending Dec 31, 2016.
The request came as PDZ is trying to diversify into downstream oil and gas business, including the production of liquefied petroleum gas and condensate using gas extracted by Sumatec Resources Bhd from the Rakuschechnoye oil and gas field in Kazakhstan.
Sumatec is controlled by former Renong boss Tan Sri Halim Saad, whom Aminuddin had worked closely with at several companies.
Regarding the resolution to appoint new auditors, PDZ noted that it had last Friday received a notice from PKF informing of its intention to resign as auditors for PDZ for FY16. The announcement did not cite any reason given by PKF for tendering its resignation.
PMB emerged as a substantial shareholder of PDZ in April 2014 through off-market and open market acquisitions of a 26.83% stake in PDZ. PMB chairman Datuk Sohaimi Shahadan was made chairman of PDZ in the same month.
Aminuddin, who was appointed to the PDZ board on April 1, 2013, became group managing director on Jan 1, 2015. However, he was redesignated back as non-executive director on June 30 this year.
Aminuddin had previously been director and later group managing director of Renong Bhd from 1990 to 1994, and director and group MD of Faber Group Bhd from 1990 to 1994.
He subsequently became Metacorp Bhd MD from 1995 to 1996 and UEM Builders Bhd MD from 2000 to 2003.
PDZ incurred a loss attributable to shareholders of RM60.02mil for the financial year ended June 30, 2015, and has continued to post losses this year.
It recorded an unaudited loss of RM6.51mil for the 12 months to June 30, 2016. (The company has changed its financial year end to Dec 31, 2016, to align it with that of its biggest shareholder, PMB.)
PDZ’s proposal to diversify the group’s business into oil and gas was announced in November 2014. In March 2015, PDZ signed a gas supply agreement with CaspiOil Gas LLP and Ken Makmur Holdings Sdn Bhd, whereby it would pay Ken Makmur US$125mil in cash and redeemable convertible preference shares.
In August this year, Sumatec signed a conditional share sale agreement to buy 100% in Markmore Energy (Labuan) Ltd (MELL), whose unit CaspiOil Gas is the concession owner and operator of the oil and gas field in Kazakhstan, for US$250mil.
Ken Makmur, in turn, has an agreement with MELL to extract 350 metric tonnes of LPG per day and 100 tonnes per day of condensate from the 100 million standard cu ft of gas supplied by MELL.
Neither the Sumatec deal with MELL nor the PDZ deal with Ken Makmur has been fully completed.
Last month PDZ applied to Bursa Malaysia Securities to further extend by six months the period to complete several proposals related to the proposed diversification (to April 22, 2017).
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