KUALA LUMPUR (April 30): Brahim’s Holdings Bhd announced today it has decided to abort the private placement exercise which was announced in February 2018.

The company in an exchange filing today said the decision was arrived after considering the current market conditions including, amongst others, the deteriorating current market price of Brahim’s shares, as well as the company’s Practice Note 17 (PN17) status.

“The company will explore alternative methods of fund-raising to meet its funding requirement and regularisation plan,” it added.

On Feb 21, 2018, Brahim’s announced its plan to raise cash for working capital purposes and to repay borrowings through a private placement of up to 23.63 million new shares, representing 10% of its share capital.

Assuming an indicative price of 42 sen per placement share, the group said the exercise could potentially raise up to RM9.92 million, of which RM9.19 million has been earmarked for debt repayment and RM485,000 for working capital.

Shares in Brahim’s closed half a sen up at 12 sen today, for a market capitalisation of RM28.35 million,

The Main Market-listed catering services provider lapsed into the PN17 status last month, after its shareholders’ equity fell below the 25% threshold.

Based on the unaudited interim financial results for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018 (4QFY18), the shareholders' equity on a consolidated basis was less than RM40 million or 25% of its issued capital.

The company plans to finalise its regularisation plan in the next one to two months.