AFTER buying over 60% stake in the Bandar Malaysia project from 1MDB in 2015, Iskandar Waterfront Holdings reportedly told Focus Malaysia in 2016 that it was looking at options to fund the project acquisition including internally-generated funds, bank borrowings and other financial instruments.
IWH partnered China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC) in a 60:40 joint venture to purchase the 60% stake of Bandar Malaysia for RM7.41 bil.
In a Focus Malaysia Jan 2016 article titled “Funding intact for Bandar Malaysia”, IWH managing director Lim Kang Hoo Lim was quoted as saying that the company was looking at listing as one of its funding source for the project but did not give a timeframe.
The article raised concerns that IWH may be biting off more than it can chew given the sheer size of the Bandar Malaysia project.
It noted, IWH was also the master developer of the 1,720ha Danga Bay waterfront city in Johor, which has an estimated gross development value of RM125 bil.
For the Bandar Malaysia deal, IWH and its partner, CREC, would have to fork out the initial 10% deposit, or RM741 mil, to be paid upon executing the share sale and purchase agreement (SPA) due for completion in June 2016.
On the latest development of IWH’s listing plan, The Star in a Sept 2020 report had said that the IPO plan has been contingent on the multi-billion city development project’s progressing, and after scrapping plans for a backdoor listing in 2017, the company had revived the plan to list on its own last in 2019.
The daily, revealed that IWH was planning to list in the first half of next year to raise at least RM5 bil after getting the green light to proceed with works on the mega project.
IWH obtained the go-ahead after it reportedly settled a RM1.24 bil deposit and advance payment fulfilling its initial contractual obligations to the government to allow the group and CREC to start work on Bandar Malaysia.
The 486-acre mixed-use, transit-oriented development on the fringe of Kuala Lumpur city centre, was initially announced in 2011 and scrapped in 2017. But it was reinstated in April this year.
The report quoted vice chairman Lim Kang Hoo as saying in an interview that infrastructure construction and earthworks were planned for early next year.
“IWH intends to submit its IPO application by the end of this year, and is targeting long-term institutional investors like pension funds”, Lim said.
He said IWH is valued at RM20 bil, based on valuations of more than 4,000 acres of land it owns in Johor and it planned to raise a minimum 25% of that value in the listing.
Lim reportedly said RM3.7 bil of the proceeds would be used to clear debt incurred from acquiring 60% of the Bandar Malaysia project alongside CREC from the Ministry of Finance.
Meanwhile, the Edge on Sept 9, 2020, reported Ekovest Bhd was to start exclusive negotiations to acquire 40% of the equity stake held by IWH in the joint venture company that is taking part in the Bandar Malaysia project.
As per the report, Ekovest in In a stock exchange filing said, it was offered the opportunity — via a letter it received from IWH to explore the company’s participation as a strategic investor in the development by taking up IWH’s stake in IWH CREC Sdn Bhd (IWC-CREC). – Oct 6, 2020
