Hatten Land forms JV and collaboration with e-sports organisations as part of business pivot

BUILDING on its new business strategy to rebrand its Elements mall in Melaka, Malaysia into an e-sports hub, Hatten Land : PH0 0% said in a bourse filing on Wednesday (Apr 20) that it has entered into agreements with 2 e-sports organisations.

Hatten Land's subsidiary Hatten Technology will be forming a joint venture with Kitamen Holdings, an e-sports company, to organise e-sports events and tournaments, as well as conduct e-sports coaching to develop the skillsets of the community.

Since 2017, Kitamen has organised more than 100 e-sports events in Malaysia, attracting more than 2 million gamers aged between 13 and 35 years old.

Hatten Technology will hold a 60 per cent stake in the joint venture, while Kitamen will hold the rest.

It will inject RM1 million (S$319,765) into the joint venture over 12 months for the purposes of promoting e-sports in Elements mall, which will be converted into a large-scale integrated e-sports hub and rebranded as Element X.

After 12 months, Hatten Technology may invest another RM1 million, depending on the joint venture's cost effectiveness and financial performance during the initial starting period.

The injection will be funded from proceeds raised by Hatten Land's share placement exercise. It had earlier announced that it will be raising S$5 million by issuing close to 122 million new shares, at S$0.041 per share.

Kitamen will provide its expertise, management team, as well as connections and network within the e-sports community.

As part of a memorandum of understanding signed with Melaka E-sports Association (MEA) in December last year, the government agency, which is in charge of facilitating and promoting e-sports activities in the state, will recognise Element X as Melaka's official e-sports hub.

MEA will be providing guidance to Hatten Technology to convert the mall in line with national e-sports standards and requirements, while also obtain government grants and other financial support to reimburse Element X's development.

Both agreements will likely not have any material effect on Hatten Land's net assets, gearing, earnings, as well as earnings per share for the financial year ending Jun 30 this year.

It is expected that it will contribute positively to the future financial performance of the company, said Hatten Land in the filing.