KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 29): Goh Ban Huat Bhd (GBH) chairman Tan Sri Robert Tan Hua Choon said oil and gas (O&G) ventures were “off the radar” after a failed reverse takeover (RTO), which would have spurred the company’s diversification into the sector.

Tan said ceramic product manufacturer GBH was not looking into O&G as crude oil prices remained weak.

“O&G is off the radar now. It was a kind of blessing in disguise when the RTO was cancelled last year. Nobody would have expected oil prices to drop so fast,” Tan told reporters after GBH’s annual general meeting here today.

GBH’s scrapped RTO involved the acquisition of O&G support-services entity Dynac Sdn Bhd by GBH.

But the deal fell through in September last year after Dynac owners Datuk Abdul Rahman Mohamed Shariff and Normala Mohd Sharif requested to terminate the memorandum of agreement signed by GBH and Dynac shareholders.

Today, Tan said the weak market sentiment might offer merger and acquisition opportunities to grow GBH’s business.

He said the company had not finalised any new investments at this juncture although it had received several acquisition offers.

“The market sentiment is weak now and we also see more opportunities coming up. But we are still evaluating their business viability,” he said.

Tan’s comments come a time when crude oil prices had fallen as global economic concerns led to expectation of weaker oil demand.

Reuters reported that oil prices remained low in early Asian trading on Tuesday following a slide of almost 3% in the previous session, dragged down as concerns over Asia’s economic health mounted and as production remained high.

Brent crude futures were at US$47.37 per barrel at 0443 GMT, down three cents since their last settlement but following a more than 2.5% drop on Monday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were unchanged at US$44.43 a barrel.

In Malaysia, GBH shares have not been traded so far today. Yesterday, the thinly-traded stock closed unchanged at RM1.41 for a market capitalisation of RM263.1 million.

(Note: The Edge Research’s fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)