Hot stock: Ezra jumps on sale of half of its subsea business

SHARES of Ezra Holdings jumped more than 17 per cent on Friday on news that it would sell half of its subsea business to Japan's Chiyoda Corp, in a deal estimated to be worth around US$1.25 billion, including debt.

After trading to S$0.135 a share, Ezra was seen around S$0.133 a share, up 1.9 Singapore cents or 16.67 per cent by 09:52am. It was the most actively traded stock, with more than 154 million shares changing hands.

On Thursday, Ezra said Chiyoda would pay US$180 million in cash for a 50 per cent stake in its subsea services arm EMAS AMC, valuing the unit at US$360 million. The total deal value includes US$530 million of third-party net debt that EMAS AMC holds and another US$360 million in long-term funding from Ezra.

The subsea unit is the biggest segment of Ezra's business, accounting for about 70 per cent of revenue and 58 per cent of profit from operations in the financial year ended Aug 31, 2014.