Khazanah denies eyeing 20% of Inari Amertron

by **Cals** Mon 07 Oct 2013, 00:50

Published: Saturday October 5, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday October 5, 2013 MYT 7:13:42 AM
Khazanah denies eyeing 20% of Inari Amertron
BY NG BEI SHAN

KUALA LUMPUR: Khazanah Nasional Bhd has denied it is looking at a 20% stake in Inari Amertron Bhd.
“The news report attributed to a stockbroker report on Khazanah taking a 20% stake in Inari Amertron in exchange for a stake in Silterra (M) Sdn Bhd is false and baseless,” a spokesperson for the sovereign fund said.
Inari Amertron vice-chairman Dr Tan Seng Chuan, however, declined to comment on the report at a press conference after its EGM, saying only the management had not been “approached by anyone from Khazanah”.
“I cannot comment on that because I have not read the report,” Tan told reporters after the electronic manufacturing services (EMS) provider’s EGM to approve amendments to articles of association and the establishment of an employees share option scheme.
Tan pointed out that Silterra was a wafer fabricator while Inari Amertron was an assembly, test and packaging company.
“We are in different spaces… although we are both in the semiconductor industry,” he said when asked if there was any synergy between the two companies.
To recap, a local daily had quoted a brokerage’s private note to clients that Inari Amertron could be placing out a 20% stake to Khazanah in exchange for a stake in Silterra.
Its warrants closed 1.5 sen higher at 73.5 sen, with 19.28 million units changing hands, while the mother shares dipped two sen to RM1.09, with 5.46 million traded.
Insas Bhd, which owns some 35% of the EMS firm, emerged as one of the most active counters, with 20.67 million shares changing hands and the price rising one sen to 59.5 sen.
Tan said: “We would continue to grow organically and, at the same time, look at opportunities for acquisitions due to the large size of the EMS market.”
He also said the company’s plan to transfer from the Ace to the Main Market was “on track” and hoped to complete the process by the year-end.
“The main difference (in moving to the Main Market) is investor interest. Many funds and institutions don’t have the charter to invest in Ace Market companies,” he noted.
Tan also said once it consolidated Amertron’s profit and loss with Inari’s existing books, its sales revenue would be three times its current performance.
Inari completed the acquisition of Philippines-based opto-electronics maker Amertron Inc (Global) Ltd mid this year.
Group chief executive officer K. C. Lau is optimistic on its business growth, which is driven by demand for mobile-phones and tablets. “Those are the areas that we invest heavily in. In the past six months, we have seen a lot of excitement in this segment,” he said.