KUALA LUMPUR (May 31): HPMT Holdings Bhd, which is en route for a Main Market listing on June 12, said the shares it made available for public subscription under the initial public offering (IPO) has been oversubscribed by seven times.

In a statement today, the manufacturer and distributor of cutting tools said a total of 4,483 applications for 131.46 million shares were received from the Malaysian public for the 16.43 million shares available.

Of that, 8.21 million of the shares were allocated for Bumiputera investors, who oversubscribed to the shares by 5.74 times, with 2,034 applications for 55.33 million shares received.

For the public portion, 2,449 applications for 76.13 million new shares were received, representing an oversubscription rate of 8.27 times.

Meanwhile, 8.3 million new shares available for application by eligible directors and employees of the group have also been fully subscribed.

In addition, 91.89 million new shares available via private placement to institutional, selected, and Bumiputera investors approved by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry have been fully placed out.

The notices of allotment will be despatched to all successful applicants on or before June 11.

HPMT's IPO will involve 116.62 million shares at an offer price of 56 sen each. Upon listing, its capitalisation would be an estimated RM184 million.

Under the listing exercise, HPMT is raising RM42.3 million, of which RM34 million has been earmarked for the purchase of new machinery while RM2.9 million would be used as working capital.

Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd is the principal adviser, underwriter and placement agent for this listing exercise.