KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 5): UEM Sunrise Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and Iskandar Investment Bhd (IIB) are shutting down the joint venture (JV) that they started nearly 10 years ago to provide smart in-building and smart city services around Iskandar Puteri, Johor.
The JV — Inneonusa Sdn Bhd — is 51%-owned by TM, 39%-owned by UEM and 10% by IIB. All three parties have mutually agreed for the unit to be voluntarily wound up after an extraordinary general meeting held on Friday.
Both UEM and TM, in their respective disclosures to Bursa Malaysia on Friday, said the termination of the JV was part of their respective initiatives to streamline their businesses.
To UEM, this will enable it to better focus on its core business.
For TM, the move to dissolve “companies that are dormant and inactive” is to improve efficiency within the group. “In addition, the winding up will enable TM group to save future costs associated with maintaining Inneonusa,” said the telecommunications giant.
Datuk Jeyaraj Ratnaswamy and Mohd Ridha Md Sani have been appointed as liquidators of Inneonusa, which was incorporated in July 2014.
UEM, the master developer of Iskandar Puteri, formerly known as Nusajaya and one of the flagship zones of Johor's business hub Iskandar Malaysia, closed three sen or 3% higher at RM1.03 on Friday — its highest in about six years — giving it a market capitalisation of RM5.21 billion.
During the past year, the group’s share price more than tripled as it drew investors' interest due to its huge land bank in Johor, which is seen as a hotspot for the property sector due to upcoming high-value transit developments such as the Johor-Bahru Singapore Rapid Transit System, and the proposed formation of the Johor-Singapore special Economic Zone in Iskandar Malaysia.
TM, meanwhile, closed unchanged at RM5.70, valuing the group at RM21.87 billion.