KUALA LUMPUR: The potential listing of Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd “makes sense”, a move that could lead to higher income for Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s exploration arm and higher dividend for the government, said an economist.
“Even though the government has to share potential dividends with other shareholders, the company would have higher capability to increase its revenue and income after the listing.
“The government will then will get higher potential dividends than what it normally receive at the moment,” Putra Business School business development manager Assoc Prof Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff said.
Razman said by listing Petronas Carigali, the firm can get additional funding without burdening its parent company or the government.
He said this will allow it to do further capital expansion and take advantage of available opportunities in the market.
“Petronas Carigali is among the most performing public companies and it has yet to be listed so there is lower risk of the company unable to attract investors. In my opinion, it would make sense,” Razman said.
It was reported that Malaysia may list a Petronas subsidiary on Bursa Malaysia to attract more investors to the local stock market.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Petronas Carigali, the upstream unit of the Fortune 500 national oil company, was one possibility but there were also other candidates.
At a dialogue with fund managers at JP Morgan’s headquarters in New York on Thursday, the prime minister was told that many investors believed listing Petronas or Petronas Carigali would give a boost to the local bourse.