PETALING JAYA: For years, Vantris Energy Bhd chased scale.
Then known as Sapura Energy Bhd
and once Malaysia’s largest integrated oil and gas services group, the group pursued large, complex engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contracts that drove top line, but with eroded margins.
Heavy leverage, loss-making legacy projects, and an industry downturn eventually pushed the group into financial distress, resulting in a Practice Note 17 (PN17) classification.
Under group chief executive officer Muhammad Zamri Jusoh, who assumed his role in January 2025, Vantris is stepping away from volume-led growth to prioritise margins and cash generation.
“We are now very selective. The most important things are margins and cash flows,” Zamri told StarBiz.
A sweeping financial restructuring took effect in September 2025.
It began with a regularisation plan involving a capital reduction and share consolidation to offset accumulated losses, alongside a balance-sheet repair that cut borrowings from RM10.8bil to RM5.6bil.
The exercise included debt forgiveness of about RM784.3mil. Zamri said this lowered the group’s annual debt servicing costs from over RM800mil to about RM250mil.
Portions of bank borrowings were converted into redeemable convertible unsecured Islamic debt securities and settlement shares, giving banks and creditors about 40% equity of the group post-restructuring.
The turnaround was further supported by RM1.1bil in fresh funding through redeemable convertible loan stocks (RCLS) from Malaysia Development Holding Sdn Bhd (MDH), a vehicle owned by the Ministry of Finance Inc.
The RCLS, if fully converted, could see MDH emerge as the single largest shareholder with a 35.92% stake.
Before the exercise, the major shareholders were Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) with 37% and the Shamsuddin brothers 12%.
Post-restructuring, ASNB’s stake has been diluted to 15% and the Shamsuddin brothers to 5%, while CIMB Group Holdings Bhd holds 9%, Maybank Islamic Bhd 20%, United Overseas Bank Ltd 5% and RHB Islamic Bank Bhd 7%.
Zamri said rebuilding trust within the operating ecosystem has been a key priority.
Immediately after the restructuring, the group completed payments totalling RM1.1bil to more than 1,400 local vendors.
“We made a commitment to them then. We stuck to that,” Zamri said.
Vantris has entered into framework agreements and strategic partnerships to improve cost visibility and execution certainty when bidding for projects.
As at Oct 31, 2025, the group’s order book stood at RM6.3bil, with a focus on Malaysia and Asia Pacific and made up of its drilling segment (RM3bil or 47%), followed by engineering and construction (E&C) at RM1.8bil (29%) and operations and maintenance (O&M) at RM1.5bil (24%).
In addition, the group’s share of joint ventures and associates amounted to RM3.9bil, with more than 90% contributed by its Brazil joint venture (JV).
He said the group is refocusing assets closer to home, including plans to redeploy its vessels back to the region once its Angola campaign concludes.
“We think there are enough jobs here to keep us busy,” he said, adding that discussions with clients point to strong activity through 2028 and 2029.
More recently, Vantris secured two transportation and installation awards from PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd worth RM1.4bil.
This boosted its orderbook beyond RM7bil, which provides earnings visibility for the next three years.
Vantris operates 12 offshore construction vessels and barges under its E&C arm, capable of shallow and deep-water transportation, installation, and subsea services.
Over the past 15 months, Zamri said most of Vantris’ projects have delivered positive margins, with the exception of the Angola project, which is near completion and expected to wrap up by February.
Structural cost management and operational efficiency are ongoing priorities.
“We are just at the start of this reset year but we still have to go through this difficult, but necessary, pain to help us emerge stronger,” he said.
Zamri said latest E&C contracts are increasingly day-rate or reimbursable, reducing risk compared with previous large lump-sum EPCIC projects.
To manage input cost volatility – such as diesel prices – he said Vantris has implemented a rise-and-fall mechanism, sharing any cost increases with clients while returning savings.
The O&M segment, previously limited to domestic work, is expanding across the region. In drilling, the group operates nine active rigs, with all but two fully contracted. Technical utilisation and operational performance remain strong, with year-to-date performance over 99%.
Despite the progress, challenges remain.Vantris is still under PN17 and does not have access to working capital or bank guarantee facilities, requiring it to self-fund operations.
The group needs to record two consecutive quarters of net profit to exit PN17, with management targeting an exit by the financial year ending Jan 31, 2027.
Zamri acknowledged that execution discipline remains critical. “We are watching our business like a hawk. No room for error, essentially,” he said.
Vantris has also been divesting non-performing assets. In January, the group sold its 40% equity interest in L&T‑Sapura Shipping Pvt Ltd, the JV that owned and operated the LTS3000 vessel, to its partner Larsen & Toubro Ltd for about US$30.5mil.
The net proceeds from the divestment is earmarked for working capital, given the group has no access to the capital market at this juncture.
On tenders, Zamri said Vantris is also tightening its bidding strategy by aligning new jobs with assets it already owns.
“We now look at our assets first before we tender. The priority is to make sure the assets we have are fully utilised, because a good asset is a working asset.”
As at end-October 2025, the group’s tender book stood at RM28.9bil.
Exposure to the western hemisphere has been reduced to about 12%, or RM3.4bil, while the eastern hemisphere, including the Asia-Pacific region, now accounts for 88%, or RM25.5bil.
Zamri sees the oil and gas industry as robust, with continued investment by Big Oil despite price volatility.
“The only thing we have to watch is volatility. Clients are cautious and disciplined in deploying capex,” he said.
He said lessons from the previous downturn have reinforced the need for measured, consistent investment to avoid supply-demand mismatches and price spikes.
