Malaysia’s Westports takes orders for $630mln IPO

Malaysian port operator Westports Holdings Bhd started taking orders on September 19th for a $630 million initial public offering, which is expected to be one of the country’s biggest share sales this year.

Westports said in a statement that it was offering 813.2 million shares at a price of up to 2.50 ringgit (0.77 US cents) each.

The listing on the Malaysian stock exchange has been scheduled for October 18, said the company, which manages the shipping terminal at the country’s main port of Klang and is partly owned by Asia’s richest man, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.

Up to 710.9 million shares will be offered to institutional investors, while the rest has been earmarked for the public.

The company said the offering had already attracted nine so-called cornerstone investors to buy up almost half of the institutional offering.

Ooi Chin Hock, a dealer with Malaysia’s M&A Securities, said Westports’ IPO was expected to be one of the largest this year.

“It’s definitely in the top league. We expect it to be oversubscribed,” he told AFP.

Malaysia’s state-backed conglomerate UMW Holdings plans to raise up to $720 million by selling part of its oil and gas unit in an initial public offering by the year’s fourth quarter.

Southeast Asia’s third largest economy was among the world’s IPO leaders last year with several major listings led by palm-oil giant Felda Global Ventures, which raised $3.25 billion.