Several parties keen to take Ingress private (7112)

by **hlk** Wed 18 Jul 2012, 08:25

Speculation has been rife that major shareholders of Ingress are mulling taking the company private in a deal worth more than RM300 million.

Ingress Corp Bhd, a car parts supplier listed on Bursa Malaysia's Main Market, has received offers from several parties to take the company private, but so far nothing has been decided.

"There are several parties who have approached us, asking us to take the company private. But nothing has been decided," chairman and chief executive officer Datuk Rameli Musa told Business Times after a shareholders' meeting yesterday.

Rameli did not name the interested parties.

Speculation has been rife that major shareholders of Ingress, including Rameli, are mulling taking the company private in a deal worth more than RM300 million.

The other shareholders are Shamsudin@Samad Kassim and Datuk Vaseehar Hassan Abdul Razack.

Ingress, through its subsidiaries, manufactures roll-formed plastic moldings and weather strips, automotive door assemblies and other automotive components.

Its energy division provides engineering services to power, utility, oil and gas, and railway industries.

Rameli, who directly and indirectly owns 31.2 per cent of Ingress, said currently, there are no plans to take the company private.

Ingress, which started as an automotive components maker in 1991, was listed on Bursa Malaysia in 2001.

The price of its shares has been increasing in the last two months, from a low of RM1.00 on May 17, to as high as RM1.26.

The company, which has a market capitalisation of RM104.6 million, closed unchanged at RM1.24 yesterday.

According to Rameli, the company currently focuses on expanding its business and increasing its bottom line.

For the financial year ended January 31 2012, Ingress posted a pre-tax profit of RM27.3 million on revenue of RM658.7 million.

More than 80 per cent of the pre-tax profit and revenue was derived from its manufacturing business. The rest of the income came from its energy division, which includes power and railway.