Selangor Dredging MD picking up shares not a prelude to a privatisation

PETALING JAYA: Property developer Selangor Dredging Bhd is dismissing speculation that major shareholder as well as group managing director Teh Lip Kim is taking the company private.
Teh
has been steadily increasing her stake in the company and now holds a
direct 18.31% stake compared to 15.75% in January 2012. Including her
indirect holdings held mostly under Teh Wan Sang & Sons Sdn Bhd and Teh Kien Toh Sdn Bhd, she now holds close to 60% of the company.
A
filing showed that Teh's last transaction was on May 3, with the
acquisition of 300,000 shares or a 0.0007% stake through an off-market
deal valuing the block at RM243,000. She has been acquiring shares via
both off-market deals and acquisitions via the open market.
A company official told StarBiz that
she occasionally picks up shares of the company but this would not be
“a prelude to a privatisation”. He said this “would not happen in the
foreseeable future”.
The company has a market capitalisation of
RM398.4mil and a total issued share capital of 426.1 million shares,
with 42% of the shares publicly held.
The company develops mostly niche lifestyle projects and owns the Hotel Maya, a five-star property located along Jalan Ampang.
Selangor
Dredging has unbilled sales of about RM862mil as at end-December and
have been among the few local developers who have made inroads into
Singapore where the property prices have been rising.
The company
have plans to expand its footprint in the island with the latest
residential project being nine five-storey blocks comprising 148
apartments located in Singapore Village At Pasir Panjang with a gross
development value (GDV) of RM640.05mil on a 0.99 ha site.
Besides
this, ongoing projects include the Gilstead Two condominium project
located along Gilstead Road consisting of 110 units with a GDV of
S$200mil and the Okio Residences project launched in the second quarter
of 2011, a mixed freehold residential and commercial project on a 0.2ha
site at Balestier Road in district 12.
Other projects in
Singapore include the 22 units of low-rise condominiums called Jia at
Wilkie Road with a GDV of S$55mil completed in Dec 2010.
For the
third quarter ended Dec 31, the niche property developer recorded a
lower net profit of RM9.28mil compared with RM10.02mil achieved in the
previous corresponding quarter.
The company closed 3.5 sen lower at 93.5 sen last Thursday.
Her
buying pattern raises questions on whether a privatisation bid is on
the cards for the company which has niche lifestyle projects ranging
from high rise and low rise service apartments, and is also in the hotel
business with its five-star Hotel Maya in Jalan Ampang.