This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on November 8, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: KPMG Deal Advisory Sdn Bhd is understood to be looking to hive off as many as seven anchor handling tugs controlled by ailing Syarikat Borcos Shipping Sdn Bhd — a company wholly-owned by the government via the Minister of Finance Inc (MoF Inc).

According to a check by The Edge Financial Daily, liquidators KPMG were appointed at end-December last year.

Last week, international shipping publication Tradewinds highlighted the sale and named the vessels up for sale as the MV Borcos Tasneem 3, MV Borcos Tasneem 4, MV Borcos Tasneem 5, MV Borcos Tasneem 6, MV Borcos Tasneem 7, MV Borcos Tasneem 8 and MV Borcos Tasneem 9.

The first three were built in 2007, while the remaining four in 2009. All are Malaysian made.

“The company has succumbed to the challenging environment,” one official from Global Maritime Ventures Bhd (GMV) whom The Edge Financial Daily spoke to said. He declined to comment further.

Checks reveal that Borcos is wholly-owned by GMV, the company dispensing the shipping fund under Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd, which is in turn controlled by the MoF Inc. 

It is not clear how many ships Borcos presently has, but according to GMV’s annual report for the year ended December 2015, Borcos had as many as 24 vessels.

Once Malaysia’s second-largest offshore support vessel operator, Borcos for its year ended December 2014 racked up after-tax losses of RM238.39 million, on the back of RM123.28 million in revenue.

As at end-December 2014, Borcos’ total liabilities exceeded RM510 million, while total assets were at RM574.34 million.

Borcos is seen as one of the casualties of the oil prices tumbling from US$150 per barrel in 2008 to below US$28 a barrel in February 2016.

Back in 2009, when things were better, Borcos was touted to be an initial public offering candidate to unlock value in the shipping company. At the time, it was raking in net profits of close to RM50 million from RM190 odd million in revenue.

Borcos, in 2005, received the Securities Commission Malaysia’s approval to list on Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd’s Main Board, but the listing plan was later aborted as it opted for the debt market instead to fund its expansion.

The company has changed hands many times, and was once owned by Datuk Wan Ariff Wan Hamzah, Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd, and pilgrims fund Lembaga Tabung Haji, among others.