BY TOH KAR INN
Wednesdays Report: Inset Desmond Lim. Taing is on the right.
PETALING JAYA: WCT Holdings Bhd saw a change at the helm a day after the founding shareholders of the construction and engineering company disposed of their stake to Tan Sri Desmond Lim Siew Choon.
In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, WCT said Lim, the executive chairman of Malton Bhd, took over as its executive chairman.
Malton, in a separate announcement, said Lim intended to relinquish his position as the executive chairman of Malton and assume the position of non-independent non-executive chairman with effect from Jan 2 next year.
“His duties and responsibilities as the executive chairman will be reassigned to and assumed by the other executive members of the board.
Lim replaces former executive chairman Datuk Capt Ahmad Sufian.
Taing’s resignation was due to his cessation as a substantial shareholder of WCT, while Wong, Choo and Ahmad were said to have resigned to pursue personal interests.
On Tuesday, Taing and Wong Sewe Wing – who were founders of the company – sold their 19.67% stake in WCT Holdings to Dominon Nexus Sdn Bhd, a company controlled by Lim.
According to Affin Hwang Capital, Taing is expected to stay on as an adviser of WCT until early June 2017 during the transition period. “The professional management team will remain. Given Lim’s business acumen in property development and deal-making, we believe he can help accelerate WCT‘s de-gearing and asset monetisation plans,” said Affin Hwang Capital in a research report yesterday.
Pavilion REIT Management Sdn Bhd executive director Datuk Lee Tuck Fook was appointed as WCT’s non-independent non-executive director while Tan Sri Marzuki Mohd Noor and Datuk Ab Wahab Khalil were appointed as independent non-executive directors.
Meanwhile, analysts see synergies between WCT and Pavilion which is a major owner of malls.
They feel that WCT’s existing investment properties such as Paradigm Mall in Petaling Jaya, Aeon Bukit Tinggi shopping mall in Klang and gateway@klia2 were good assets for injection into Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) or a new REIT controlled by Lim.
Paradigm Mall PJ, Aeon Bukit Tinggi shopping mall and the upcoming Paradigm Mall Johor Baru were supposed to be injected into WCT’s REIT which it had planned to launch.
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The cumulative net lettable area (NLA) of these three malls is 3 million sq ft.
AmInvestment Bank said WCT could be transformed into Lim’s flagship property company via the injection of his portfolio of privately held property projects.
UOB KayHian does not discount the possibility that WCT’s construction division will be able to benefit from the upcoming Pavilion Damansara Heights, which has a gross development value (GDV) of RM7bil.
Currently, WCT’s construction order book amounts to RM3.8bil, almost a 10-year high.
The WCT shares were transacted at RM2.50 a piece, 75 sen or 42.8% premium over the closing price of RM1.75. Total proceeds from the sale amounted to RM614.3mil.
“The premium, we believe, is justifiable for a major stake and also the synergy that Lim can offer, especially for the existing and new malls in the pipeline,” said Public Investment Bank.
Paradigm Mall JB is slated to be opened in April 2017 while another mall, Paradigm Garden City, in OUG is still in the planning stage.
Best known for Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, the Pavilion group is a developer of large-scale retail mixed projects in prime city centre locations in Malaysia.
Through its developer Malton Bhd, Pavilion’s projects include Bukit Jalil City, Pavilion Damansara Heights and Royale Pavilion hotel.
WCT closed 4.6% higher at RM1.83 on a volume of 34.04 million shares traded.
