KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Shares of Bumi Armada Bhd are on course to snap their three-day losing streak, following news that the company has secured a loan refinancing facility of US$64.3 million (RM270.06 million).

The counter opened at its intra-day high of 32.5 sen, up 1.5 sen from the previous close, before paring its gains to trade unchanged at 31 sen at press time for a market capitalisation of RM1.82 billion.

It was the fourth most active counter on Bursa Malaysia with 4.3 million shares traded as at 11.49am.

The RM270 million loan was secured from Singapore’s ING Bank NV by Bumi Armada’s wholly-owned unit Armada TGT Ltd, the company said yesterday.

The new loan comes as good news for the company, which is working hard to pare down its debt, especially its short-term liabilities, and clean up its balance sheet.

On Feb 27, Bumi Armada said its lenders for Armada Kraken Pte Ltd has agreed to remove the risk of having to pre-pay its long-term loan of RM1.33 billion, previously classified as short-term liability due to non-compliances related with the Armada Kraken floating production storage offloading vessel project.

Shares of Bumi Armada have retreated from their December 2019 peak of 54 sen apiece, following weaker oil prices amid concerns of global demand due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and further dragged by weaker-than-expected latest quarterly results announced on Feb 27.