SINGAPORE (Oct 30): ZICO Holdings, a Malaysia-based company that provides legal and business support services, is seeking to raise $14.4 million through an IPO in Singapore.

The Catalist-bound company will place out 48 million new shares at 30 cents each, which values the stock at 13 times historical earnings.

ZICO has three business divisions – advisory and transactional services, management and support services, and licensing services.

Its business operations are in Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore.

Its clients include governments and government-linked companies, law firms, private and public listed companies, MNCs and high net worth individuals.

“The re-emergence of multi-disciplinary practices indicates an increase in client demand for a more holistic range of services, while the introduction of alternative business structures to permit greater participation of non-lawyers and multi-disciplinary solutions within one entity indicate the potential for developments of new markets within the professional services industry,” Chew Seng Kok, ZICO’s managing director, said in a statement today.

ZICO intends to use the net proceeds of about $12.5 million for acquisitions, capital expenditure on IT infrastructure and general working capital.

Earnings for 2013 came in at RM11.6 million ($4.5 million), up from RM6.3 million in the previous year.

The company achieved a pre-tax profit margin of 67.5% last year, compared with 56% in 2012.

The shares are expected to start trading on Nov 11.