KUCHING: Sarawak Cable Bhd’s (Sarawak Cable) rights issue have been oversubscribed by 9.7 per cent, receiving 77.3 million valid acceptances, or 99.6 per cent of total rights offered, and another 7.8 million in valid excess applications.
A total of 77.6 milllion rights shares would be listed on July 31.
The rights issue, which raised RM77.6 million, would be followed by a 1-for-5 bonus issue of 46.6 In terms of the 500kV backbone line, AmResearch Sdn Bhd (AmResearch) expects a state meeting to be held next week to discuss who the transmission package – worth an estimated RM1 billion – will be awarded to.
“W e believe that Sarawak Energy Bhd might announce the award of the 500kV line as early as next month, after the bonus issue is completed.
“Being the only integrated power cable and transmission player in the state (and region), we believe Sarawak Cable is the frontrunner for the job,” AmResearch commented.
The 500kV needs to be implemented soon in order to support the intensive power needs of investors in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE). The recent state-wide power outage in Sarawak further underscores the need to expedite this.
The research house also noted that SEB has committed the entire firm output of Bakun (1,777MW) and Murum (635MW) to SCORE.
With the RM3.5 billion Murum dam to commence operations soon, another two new dams might be in the pipeline – the 1,200MW Baram Dam and 1,300MW Balleh dam.
Overall, SCB might benefit from the new transmission jobs arising from these.
As such, AmResearch maintained its ‘buy’ recommendation on SCB with a sum-of-parts-derived (SOP-derived) fair value of RM2.50 per share.