KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 2): Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd announced it secured London Stock Exchange's AIM-listed Polo Resources Ltd as a new substantial shareholder, with an 8.4% stake.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia today, Hibiscus said it had entered into a share placement agreement with Polo. Under the deal, Hibiscus issued 90 million new shares at 23.5 sen each to Polo, which invests in mining assets.

Hibiscus managing director Dr Kenneth Pereira said: “We are truly excited by the opportunity to have Polo Resources as a strategic investor in the company. We look forward to working with Polo Resources, as we build out our business plan into 2016 and beyond."

Polo Resources' executive chairman Datuk Michael Tang said: “Although the oil and gas industry is languishing in an environment of oversupply and low prices, Hibiscus is on track to generate positive cash flow and grow its high quality asset base. We are very excited about the prospects of our investment in Hibiscus.”

According to Hibiscus' statement, Polo invests in oil and gas, coal, gold, iron ore, copper and phosphate projects.

The 90 million Hibiscus shares placed out to Polo, forms a portion of Hibiscus' private placement exercise.

Hibiscus had earlier proposed to place out up to 326.94 million new shares or 25% of its enlarged issued and paid-up share capital.

At 3:07pm today, Hibiscus shares fell 0.5 sen or 2% to 24 sen, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM235.4 million. The stock saw about 11 million shares traded.

(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.)