KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): In a bid to raise up to RM25.43 million to fund its working capital, Seacera Group Bhd has proposed to place out new shares to yet-to-be-identified investors.

In a Bursa Malaysia filing, Seacera said the proceeds would be used to finance the group's tile operations as well as property development/construction divisions. "The proceeds to be utilised for each component of working capital are subject to the operating requirements at the time of utilisation and therefore has not been determined at this juncture."

The private placement follows a placement in April 2017 where the group had proposed to place out 70.77 million shares at an issue price of RM1 each to raise up to RM70.77 million, but was only able to raise RM23.2 million — or just under a third of the original RM70.77 million target.

The current placement will involve up to 10% of the total number of the company's issued shares — or up to 54.11 million shares — at an issue price to be determined later. The placement will enlarge Seacera's issued share capital to as much as 595.23 million shares.

The placement shares will not be priced at more than 10% discount to the five-day volume weighted average market price (5D-VWAP) of its shares immediately before the price fixing date. For illustrative purposes, assuming the issue price is 47 sen per placement share, the proposed exercise is expected to raise gross proceeds of up to RM25.43 million.

Subject to the market conditions and the timing of identification of placees, the proposed placement may be implemented in one or more tranches within six months.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances and subject to the approval of the relevant authority being obtained, the board expects the proposed exercise to be completed within six months from the date of Bursa approval.

Seacera closed half a sen or 1.14% lower at 43.5 sen for a market capitalisation of RM161.37 million. Over the past year, the stock has retreated about 69.37% from RM1.42.