OCI Holdings Co.’s financial advisers have paused work on the potential listing of its Malaysian polysilicon business amid volatility in global stock markets, people familiar with the matter said.
While work on the initial public offering has slowed down, OCI hasn’t officially canceled the IPO process, and it may revisit the plan later, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
A spokesperson for Seoul-based OCI said the company is still weighing options for the Malaysian affiliate, including an IPO, but no final decisions have been made.
The polysilicon industry has struggled with a huge surplus, with far too much capacity built relative to demand, resulting in prices of the solar grade material tumbling more than 80% over the past two years. Meanwhile, the threat of US tariffs against Malaysia - and the wider Southeast Asian region - risks exports of solar equipment to the world’s largest economy.
OCI had been considering a listing that could raise as much as RM1.5bil and value the Malaysian polysilicon business at up to RM6bil, Bloomberg News reported previously. An IPO that size would’ve been one of the biggest share sales in the Southeast Asian nation in recent years.
OCI Malaysia makes polysilicon used in semiconductors and solar panels. It has a plant in Sarawak state in Borneo that produces 35,000 metric tons of solar PV polysilicon a year, according to its website.
Seoul-listed OCI, founded in 1959, produces a range of chemicals, petrochemicals and carbon materials. It set up a regional headquarters in Kuala Lumpur in April to help its expansion in Southeast Asia. - Bloomberg
