MAIN Market-listed Industronics Bhd has successfully been shortlisted for the Kedah Aerotropolis development project (Kedah Airport project) alongside its foreign partners Bluemount Financial Group Ltd and China Investment Corporation (CIC).
Bluemount is a Hong Kong stockbroking, asset management and credit firm with a strategic relationship with Industronics. The latter’s executive director Datuk Chu Boon Tiong had in October acquired a 10% stake in Bluemount after the group’s proposed acquisition of Bluemount encountered a delay.
Bluemount will submit its initial public offering (IPO) application to the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market by end-2023 with its listing exercise slated for completion by 1H 2023.
A successful listing will help Bluemount expand its services within its target markets of Hong Kong, China, Europe and the Southeast Asia region. This will also provide a huge opportunity for Bluemount to grow its business by having access to the China’s 1.4 billion population, 746 million in Europe and 684 million in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, CIC is a sovereign wealth fund in China that was established in 2007 with a registered capital of US$200 bil and with its total asset under management (AUM) having reached US$1.35 tril as of end-2021.
The fund has a strong track record of annualised cumulative 10-year return reaching 8.73%. In the recently released report, CIC is expected to add investment into the Asia Pacific infrastructure and digital infrastructure, power, renewable energy, and public utilities sectors.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us to participate in this 3.3 billion-euro (RM15.5) project that is slated to be an iconic infrastructure in Kedah,” commented Industronics’s Chu.
“This shortlisting recognises our strong track record and established partners with strong financial backing which puts us in a good position to secure the proposed development of Aerotropolis in Kedah.”
Aside from the collaboration on the Kedah Airport project, CIC has also agreed to support the expansion plans of Industronics’ credit leasing arm, TTE Electronics Sdn Bhd, by investing in its micro-financing business, according to Chu.
TTE Electronics owns a leasing license and is also involved in the micro financing and credit leasing business.
The group plans to expand its presence in the credit leasing business via TTE Electronics which is its wholly owned subsidiary by first seeking approval from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to raise a RM1 bil funding for its expansion into Southeast Asia.
The expansion will also see a strategic collaboration between TTE Electronics and Bikesome, a second-hand motorbike platform in Asia for the credit leasing of motorbikes.
“With CIC coming in to support our credit leasing business, this would enhance our brand and market position in the region, thus accelerating the advancement of our credit facilities and operations. It also allows us to expand into other competitive markets in Southeast Asia,” envisages Chu.
He nevertheless pointed out that the credit leasing industry in Southeast Asia remains competitive and that the rising inflation and higher interest rate are some of the near-term challenges to the industry.
At the close of trading yesterday (Dec 23), Industronics was up 0.5 sen or 5.88% to 9 sen with 20.68 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM118 mil. – Dec 24, 2022
