KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 24): I-Bhd rose as much as two sen or 2.9% to 72 sen after Insider Asia said the property developer's recently-completed fund-raising exercise signalled busier times ahead, which will underpin growth.

I-Bhd had later reduced gains. At 10.33am, the shares traded at 71.5 sen with 1.69 million shares exchanging hands.

For comparison, the FBM KLCI rose some 16 points or 0.9%.

“The rights issue raised RM197.5 million while the detachable warrants could raise another RM96.7million if fully converted.Two-third of the monies are allocated for property development with the balance for a shopping mail joint venture.

"The stock is trading at a trailing 12-month P/E (price-earnings ratio)  of 7.3 times and 0.9 times book value," Insider Asia said in a report.

The report is published in today’s copy of The Edge Financial Daily and theedgemarkets.com.

Bloomberg data showed that the average property sector PE ratio is about 24 times.

I-Bhd is the master planner of the RM7 billion i-City on a 29ha (72 acre) freehold land in Section 7, Shah Alam, Selangor.

I-Bhd also has 0.4ha (1.05 acres) of land in the vicinity of Kuala Lumpur City Centre for the RM820 million Grand i-Residence project. The project comprises a 50-storey luxury condominium tower.