KUALA LUMPUR: Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas) is not planning to sell its 42.3 per cent stake in oil and gas services provider Icon Offshore Bhd any time soon.
The government-linked private equity firm yesterday said it would only dispose of the stake at the end of its horizon period, which is typically between three and five years.
“As a private equity firm with an investment horizon of between three to five years, Ekuinas’ efforts on creating value for Icon Offshore are part of an ongoing process in our aim to transform the company into an industry leader,” it said in response to Business Times query.
Icon Offshore has been under heavy selling since Monday, bucking the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) uptrend this week.
At the end of morning session yesterday, Icon Offshore was down 1.5 sen lower to 73 sen. This is more than 60 per cent fall from its initial public offering (IPO) price of RM1.85.
The stock settled the day one sen lower at 73.5 sen and was among the top three actively traded with 35.27 million shares traded.
Icon Offshore made its debut on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market on June 25 with a premium of RM2.10 over its RM1.85 IPO price and closed at RM1.91.
Ekuinas said it would
only divest its stake in Icon
Offshore when it believes the value of its investment has been maximised.
“Having facilitated its listing on Bursa Malaysia in June 2014, our focus now is more towards aggressively growing the business further and increasing profits to strengthen its position as the largest pure-play offshore support vessel company in the country and among the largest in the region,” it said.
For the third quarter ended September 30 2014, Icon Offshore’s net profit declined 16.89 per cent to RM18.95 million on the back of a 22.7 per cent drop in revenue to RM79.75 million.