Mokhzani not acquiring PetOne

by **Cals** Fri 27 Sep 2013, 10:31

Mokhzani not acquiring PetOne
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Madiha Fuad of theedgemalaysia.com
Friday, 27 September 2013 10:04

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir, through a statement issued by his investment vehicle Kencana Capital Sdn Bhd, has denied media reports that he was looking at acquiring Petrol One Resources Bhd (PetOne).

“We would like to clarify and state that neither Kencana Capital, Mokhzani nor Yeow Kheng Chew are engaged in any discussions or negotiations with regard to Petrol One Resources, to acquire shares, inject assets or mount a takeover of the company,” Kencana Capital said in a statement yesterday.

The clarification came about after a news report stated that Mokhzani and his right-hand man Yeow were interested in PetOne for its listing status and were discussing a potential takeover of the Practice Note 17 (PN17) company.

The report released yesterday, quoted a banker as saying that Mokhzani was “planning to inject some of his privately-owned oil and gas assets, which are not ripe yet for an initial public offering”.

It also stated that through Mokhzani’s private vehicle, an offer was made to PetOne’s major creditor, RHB CAPITAL BHD [], which would see a cash settlement of one-fifth of PetOne’s total debts.

Kencana Capital said no offer had been made to RHBCap with regard to the takeover of PetOne.

Since PetOne fell into PN17 status on Aug 30, 2012, its share price has dropped to around five sen from 51.5 sen. Yesterday, the stock saw minimal changes and closed at 5.15 sen from five sen the previous day.

The company recently reported a net loss of RM65.3 million on RM16 million in revenue for the 2013 financial year ended June 30, citing the losses were due to a goodwill amount being written off.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 27, 2013.