KUALA LUMPUR: Eco World International Bhd
– one of the largest IPO in recent years -- staged a strong debut on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on Monday, opening at RM1.31, which was 11 sen above its retail offer price of RM1.20.
At 9.01am, it was trading at RM1.35, up 15 sen with 29.30 million shares done.
The warrants surged to 30.5 sen, up 30 sen with 4.57 million units done.
The FBM KLCI was up 2.14 points to 1,742.23. Turnover was 146.44 million shares done valued at RM75.19 million shares. There were 157 gainers, 61 losers and 200 counters unchanged.
At midday, EWI shares were at RM1.29 and the warrants 30.5 sen in active trade.
EWI shares ended the trading day at RM1.28, up 8 sen, with 145.5 million shares changing hands. The warrants, meanwhile, closed at 30.5 sen with 14 million unit done.
EWI issued to all of its shareholders two free warrants for every five shares held after the IPO
Kenanga Investment Bank Research had a target price of RM1.33 which was 23% below is fully diluted sum-of-parts of RM1.72 which includes gross development value (GDV) replenishments of RM8bil.
The EWI IPO raised RM2.58bil based on 2.15 billion shares at a retail price of RM1.20 out of the enlarged share base of 2.40 billion shares, implying a market capitalisation of RM2.88bil, which it deems as large cap developer.
The IPO comes with a bonus warrant issue of up to 960 million. Utilisation of proceeds is mainly for debt repayment, working capital and future land acquisitions.
Its key shareholders are Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin (10.3%), Eco World Development Group Bhd (27.0%) and Guocoland (27.0%). Leading the management team are Liew (executive vice chairman) and Datuk Teow Leong Seng (ED/president & CEO) who are known for previously managing SP Setia.
Its cornerstone investors are Permodalan Nasional Bhd, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) and the Employees Provident Fund Board, who together subscribed for 47% of the institutional offering.
EWI president and CEO Datuk Teow Leong Seng, remarked: “We are extremely encouraged by the tremendous response shown to us by institutional investors and the Malaysian public. It reflects the compelling value proposition offered by EWI – the faith and confidence which
"Our investors have placed in us will definitely spur us on to grow our business and scale even greater heights post-listing,” he said.
EWI executive vice chairman Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin said: “Now that the IPO exercise is completed, the stage is set for EWI to forge ahead and build on the early success achieved by our four projects.
“With the backing of two strong and experienced strategic investors, we are well-positioned to seek out new opportunities in both the United Kingdom and Australia as well as other mature markets outside Malaysia.
"Going forward, we will also be exploring the opportunities available to us to work collaboratively with both GuocoLand Limited and Eco World Development Group Bhd to increase our development pipeline and to extend our market reach,” Liew said.
CIMB Investment Bank Bhd and Maybank Investment Bank Bhd are joint principal advisers, joint global coordinators, joint bookrunners, joint managing underwriters and joint underwriters for the IPO.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd is a joint principal adviser, joint bookrunner, joint managing underwriter and joint underwriter.
UOB Kay Hian Securities (M) Sdn Bhd is a joint bookrunner.
Alliance Investment Bank Bhd, AmInvestment Bank Bhd and RHB Investment Bank Bhd are joint underwriters.
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