KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11): YB Ventures Bhd, formerly known as Yi-Lai Bhd, has proposed a private placement of up to 20% of its issued shares to raise as much as RM145.9 million to fund the installation of a rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) system.

The exercise entails the issuance of up to 48.36 million shares, the tiles manufacturing and information technology company said in a Bursa Malaysia filing.

The group said the placement shares will be issued at a price of not more than 10% discount to the five-day volume weighted average market price (VWAP) of YB Ventures shares immediately preceding the price-fixing date.

"For illustrative purposes, the indicative issue price of the placement shares is assumed at RM0.437 per placement share, which represents a discount of approximately 9.93% to the five-day VWAP of YB Ventures shares up to and including the latest practicable date of RM0.4852 per share," it added.

YB Ventures said that assuming all 806,166 of its treasury shares are resold and all of its 1.21 billion convertible securities are fully exercised prior to the implementation of the placement, 333.88 million placement shares may be issued.

Based on the indicative issue price and assuming all treasury shares are resold and all convertible securities are fully exercised, YB Ventures expects to raise RM145.9 million.

Of this, RM16 million will be allocated for the installation of the solar PV system at the group's factory building and warehouse in Kulai, near Johor Bahru.

Another RM94.8 million will be earmarked for future viable investments, while RM35 million will be used as working capital.

YB Ventures executive director Datuk Au Yee Boon said the installation of the solar PV system is timely and complements the group's plan to instal four new production lines to expand its production capacity.

"In conjunction with reduced electricity consumption, the installation of the solar PV system will also reduce the group's environmental impact due to the energy intensive nature of our manufacturing activities," he added in a statement.

He said YB Ventures is optimistic about its future prospects as Malaysia has resumed interstate and overseas travel.

"For us, our priority remains our commitment to fulfilling the backlog of orders that have built up since the Full Movement Control Order, which started on June 1, 2021," he added.

YB Ventures shares closed 1.5 sen or 3.3% higher at 47 sen, valuing the group at RM112.86 million.