KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): Ace-Market-listed Eduspec Holdings Bhd has proposed a private placement of 117.24 million shares, equivalent to about 10% of its enlarged issued and paid-up share capital, to independent third parties investors to be identified later.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Eduspec (fundamental: 3.0; valuation: 1.2) said this corporate exercise is expected to raise between RM23.75 million and RM36.35 million.

It said the issue price of the placement shares will be determined and fixed by its board of directors at a later date when all relevant approvals have been obtained for the proposed exercise.

"The placement shares may be issued at a discount of not more than 10% from the five (5)-day volume weighted average market price ("5D-VWAP") of Eduspec Shares immediately preceding the price-fixing date. In any case, the issue price of the placement shares will not be lower than RM0.10, being the par value of Eduspec Shares," it noted.

The bulk of the fund will be used for working capital, expansion and development of the group's Computer Science for Schools Programme (CSSP) and its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Robotics.

Eduspec's board of directors said private placement is the most appropriate avenue of fund raising as it will enable the group to raise funds without incurring interest costs as compared to borrowings.

Eduspec's share price closed unchanged at 32.5 sen today, with 4.71 million shares done, giving it a market capitalisation of RM249.02 million.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)