Malaysia’s Petronas Chemical launches $4bn IPO to fund expansion

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Petronas Chemicals Group (PCG) will raise about Malaysian ringgit (M$) 12.5bn ($4bn) from its initial public offering (IPO), partly to fund future expansion plans that may include acquisitions, the company said on Monday.

The company offered a total of 2.48bn shares, of which 2.19bn shares were offered to institutional investors. For retail investors, 293m shares were on offer at M$5.05 each, it said in its prospectus sent to the Malaysian stock exchange or Bursa Malaysia.

PCG comprises the 22 petrochemicals-related companies of state-owned oil and gas major Petronas. (see the chart below)

Retail offering of the IPO shares was launched on Monday and would close on 9 November. Institutional offering of the shares, meanwhile, would close on 12 November, when the final IPO price would be fixed, it said.

PCG shares were scheduled to start trading on the Bursa Malaysia on 26 November, the company said.

Meanwhile, the company said its net profit for the first four months to July of its current financial year totalled M$814m, with revenues at M$4.22bn.

Compared to the performance of the 22 companies under Petronas in April-July 2009, PCG’s numbers represent a 61% surge in net profit on a 30% increase in revenue, based on the company’s prospectus.

Funding for PCG’s greenfield ammonia and urea production facility off east Malaysia would come from the IPO proceeds, the company said.

PCG was also planning to develop a refining and petrochemicals complex in the western part of Malaysia, it added.

“We expect that an expansion of our production capacity would enhance our revenue and profits over the next few years,” according to the PCG document.

Source: Petronas Chemicals Group

($1 = M$3.14)

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