KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 7): Critical Holdings Bhd, which is set to make its ACE Market debut on Dec 18, announced on Thursday that the shares offered to the public under its initial public offering (IPO) has been oversubcribed by 88.08 times.
The mechanical, electrical and process utilities (MEP) engineering company said in a statement that it received 13,038 applications for 1.66 billion shares, for the 18.59 million new shares that were available for public subscription.
Out of the 13,038 applications, 7,379 were for 739.26 million shares for the Bumiputera portion, while 5,659 applications were for 916.55 million shares under the remaining portion.
The Bumiputera portion recorded an oversubscription rate of 78.55 times, while the remaining public portion was oversubscribed by 97.62 times.
Aside from the new shares for the public, the group is also issuing 3.72 million shares to eligible directors and employees, and placing out 46.47 million shares to Bumiputera investors approved by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI), as well as 5.58 million shares to selected investors.
All these have also been fully subscribed and placed out, it said.
Also fully placed out are the 37.17 million existing shares to selected investors, it said.
Critical Holdings has set its IPO price at 35 sen per share and aims to raise RM39.03 million under the listing exercise.
A total of RM9.92 million will be allocated to finance its working capital, RM6 million for acquisition of new regional offices, RM4.5 million for expansion of sales and technical team, RM1.6 million for capital expenditure and another RM4 million for listing expenses.
At 35 sen per share, Critical Holdings is expected to have a market capitalisation of RM130 million after listing, valuing the company at about 13.57 times — based on its net profit of RM9.59 million for the financial year ended June 30, 2023 (FY2023).
Critical Holdings and its group of subsidiaries provide MEP engineering solutions and MEP maintenance and services for critical facilities, namely, plantrooms, cleanrooms and data centres.
The end-user markets it serves are the semiconductor, pharmaceutical, and solar photovoltaic panel manufacturing sectors, as well as data centre, co-location services, telecommunications, hotel, and medical facilities sectors.
MIDF Investment is the underwriter, principal adviser, sponsor and placement agent for the IPO exercise.