Malaysia's Malakoff raises US$769m in IPO priced at top of range

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's largest independent power producer Malakoff Corporation Bhd has raised 2.74 billion ringgit (S$1.01 billion) in a share sale priced at the top of expectations, the company said in a stock exchange filing on late Wednesday.

The strong demand for the country's largest listing so far this year comes despite economic headwinds for Malaysia. Slumping global energy prices have hurt the oil exporter's revenue and have knocked the ringgit to levels seen in 2009.

Reuters reported earlier that Malakoff priced the initial public offering (IPO) at 1.80 ringgit per share, the top of an indicative price range of 1.75 ringgit to 1.80 ringgit. "It was oversubscribed by 14 times (by institutional investors)," one person familiar with the matter said. The offer to institutional investors was closed on Monday, well ahead of the originally scheduled April 29, according to the person who was not authorised to discuss the IPO publicly.

The bulk of the IPO proceeds will be used to repay debt, according to Malakoff chairman Syed Anwar Jamalullail at the launch of the company's IPO prospectus on April 17.

Maybank is the transaction manager and is the joint global co-ordinator with CIMB, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Nomura and RHB are joint bookrunners.

REUTERS