KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 11): SKA Capital Bhd (KL:SKACAP) rose 19% in the electrical engineering firm’s debut on the ACE Market on Wednesday.
The stock opened at 51 sen compared to its initial public offering (IPO) price of 43 sen per share. SKA Capital then climbed to as high as 57.5 sen and was last trading at 56 sen as more than 70 million shares changed hands at 9.15am.
SKA Capital has a market capitalisation of RM501 million based on the last price.
“Our strategy is clear,” managing director Datuk Subas Kumar Ambairam said in his speech at the listing ceremony. “We will deepen our substation and underground utility capabilities, move progressively in larger and more complex projects and strengthen our ability to execute multiple projects at the same time.”
SKA Capital mainly provides substation engineering services, underground utilities engineering services and trading of electrical devices, electrical equipment and construction materials for power infrastructure engineering.
Data centre projects and contracts from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (KL:TENAGA) each make up about half of SKA Capital’s order book that totalled about RM313 million.
The IPO raised about RM103.4 million, of which RM72.3 million went to the company to buy machinery and equipment, support performance bond requirements for future projects, and fund working capital. Subas received RM31.13 million from the sale of his existing shares under the IPO.
Selangor and Johor are offering enough opportunities to keep SKA Capital busy for the next one to two years, especially from data centres amid influx of new large investments from multinational firms, he said, noting that the company wins about one out of four tenders.
Next year could be better for SKA Capital that is currently pursuing jobs worth four to five times its existing order book, Subas added.
TA Securities Holdings Bhd is the principal adviser, sponsor, underwriter and placement agent for the IPO.