Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 11, 2016.

 

KUALA LUMPUR: MMC Corp Bhd, controlled by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, is not resting on its laurels and is eyeing its next port asset to acquire after port operator NCB Holdings Bhd.

According to its managing director Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh, MMC has been looking for acquisition opportunities both local and regional to expand its portfolio of logistics assets as it considers listing its port assets on Bursa Malaysia.

“Definitely we are exploring (acquiring more ports), but we have not identified any at the moment,” he told reporters after the group’s annual general meeting yesterday.

In January this year, it was reported that MMC was eyeing to acquire Melaka Port and will then consolidate all its port businesses under its MMC Port Holdings unit and eventually become one of the largest port operators in Asia.

In December 2015, MMC completed its purchase of all the remaining shares in NCB Holdings, which operates Northport in Port Klang and Kontena Nasional Bhd. It also owns Port Tanjung Pelepas, Penang Port, Johor Port and the Senai International Airport in Johor.

Following the completion of the NCB acquisition, Che Khalib said listing of its port business is something the group will look into.

He added that the port business will be one of the group’s biggest profit and revenue contributors going forward, accounting for 50% of the group’s revenue for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2016 (FY16).

For FY15, the port and logistics division contributed 38% and 25% to the group’s revenue and pre-tax profit respectively.

“Ports will be one of our main activities following the completion of [the NCB] acquisition. We are consolidating our port operations and looking at synergies,” Che Khalib said.

MMC shares closed two sen or 0.94% higher at RM2.14 yesterday, with a market capitalisation of RM6.52 billion.

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