GEORGE TOWN: Penang-based property developer Aspen Group says it prefers a listing on Bursa Malaysia instead of a foreign bourse.
The company’s group chief executive officer Datuk Murly Manokharan today said although Aspen Group is in advanced talks to list on Singapore Exchange Ltd’s (SGX) Catalist board, the preference is to be floated locally.
“We are a Malaysian company and prefer to list here. If we are unable to comply with the listing requirements of Bursa Malaysia, then SGX is an alternative for us,” he said after chief minister Lim Guan Eng officiated the opening of the company’s headquarters ‘Aspen House’ at Jalan Macalister here.
“We are not looking to raise large sums of money for our current operations as we are well-positioned at the moment to sustain overselves for the next three years.
“We are looking at listing to strengthen our capital for the future,” he added.
Earlier, the company announced that ‘Aspen House’, a Class Two heritage building in George Town had been awarded the Green Mark Gold Award by Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA).
The 82 year-old building for which the Aspen Group spent RM10 million to restore, is now Malaysia’s first heritage building with such an accolade.
The Green Mark certificate is a recognition of Aspen House having reached the sustainability standards set by the BCA Green Mark scheme and that it had also established environmentally-friendly practises in the group’s daily operations and retrofittings.
“The easy option would have been to look for a suitable office block, but that would be too boring for a property developer,” said Aspen Group’s chairman and executive director Datuk Seri Nazir Ariff Mushir Ariff.
Nazir, a past president and founder member of the Penang Heritage Trust, had previously been instrumental in the restoration of the sea-fronting Leong Yin Kean Mansion, which housed the office of Escoy Group where he was managing director.
Also under his watch was the restoration of Birch House, the site of Escoy’s smelting plant along Jalan Datuk Keramat here.