New substantial shareholder emerges in PN17 Bertam Alliance

PETALING JAYA: A new major shareholder has emerged in construction outfit Bertam Alliance Bhd, raising speculation of whether it will be the white knight to rescue the Practice Note 17 (PN17) company.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Bertam announced that Perfect Link Ventures Sdn Bhd acquired a 12.23% stake or 39.4 million shares via an off-market deal.

Interestingly, the deal was done on Feb 21, although it was only announced yesterday.

With the equity interest of 12.23%, this makes Perfect Link Ventures the new single-largest shareholder of Bertam.

The 12.23% stake was worth about RM5.1mil based on Bertam’s closing price of 13 sen.

Bertam fell into PN17 status in 2018 due to the winding-up order against its wholly-owned unit Bertam Development Sdn Bhd, which accounts for at least 50% of the company’s total assets.

In May last year, Bertam said its external auditors, PKF has expressed concerns about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern in its audited financial statements for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022.

As of that date, the group incurred negative operating cash flows of RM1.5mil and the company’s current liabilities had exceeded its current assets by RM17.1mil.

Bertam’s auditors pointed out that the company is taking steps to mitigate the material uncertainty, including submitting an application for a proposed regularisation plan.

It also noted that Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd, on behalf of the board, had submitted the application on March 30, 2022 and the revised application on Feb 21, 2023.