KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 7): Voultier Sdn Bhd (VSB) is set to become the largest shareholder of the financially troubled EA Technique (M) Bhd (EATech) on the proposed plan to subscribe to 676.39 million shares or a 51% stake in the company through a share issuance exercise.

VSB is largely owned by businessman Datuk Wira Mubarak Hussain Akhtar Husni with a 70% stake and the remaining 30% is held by Kinergy Advancement Bhd managing director Datuk Lai Keng Onn. 

VSB is also seeking an exemption from the obligation to undertake a mandatory general offer for the remaining shares in EATech.

The share issuance exercise is part of EA Technique’s proposed regularisation plan to address its Practice Note 17 (PN17) status, which it fell into in February 2022 after its shareholders’ equity of RM5.96 million as at Dec 31, 2021 came in less than 25% of its share capital of RM179.76 million.

It is expected to raise RM71.62 million from the share issuance of up to 795.75 million shares, representing about 60% of the company’s enlarged share capital.

This is based on the subscription price of nine sen per share, a 76.3% discount compared to EATech’s closing price of 38.5 on Tuesday that valued the company at RM204.2 million. The stock has jumped 126.5% since early this year.

The bulk of the fund raised will be used to settle the balance due to scheme creditors and finance its working capital. 

Other subscribers for EATech’s share issuance exercise include Nasrul Asni Muhammad Dain, Lim Shave Hua and Datuk Seri Wong Choon Leong who are expected to hold 2.5%, 4% and 2.5% in the company, respectively.

Following the corporate exercise, Sindora Bhd’s shareholding in EATech will be diluted to 20.02% from 50.05%. Sindora is a subsidiary of Kulim (M) Bhd, which in turn is a wholly-owned unit of Johor Corp Bhd. 

EATech believes that upon completion of the proposed regularisation plan, the company will be able to meet the criteria to uplift itself from being classified as a PN17 entity.

For the first half ended June 30, EATech posted a net profit of RM15.29 million, compared with a net loss of RM8.61 million in the previous corresponding period, thanks to lower lay-up cost for vessels disposed of, as well as lower substitute vessel cost and lower foreign exchange losses.
 

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