KUALA LUMPUR: MMC Corp Bhd, which is controlled by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary, is considering listing its port assets after spinning off its power unit Malakoff Corp Bhd on Bursa Malaysia earlier this month.

"If we see good value in the future for us to look into the listing of our port (assets), then it will be considered. But no decision has been made by the board at the moment," MMC group managing director Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh told reporters after the group's annual general meeting yesterday.

On a possible collaboration between MMC and NCB Holdings Bhd, in which MMC holds a 15.73% stake, Che Khalib said MMC would be happy to assist NCB, and aims to add value to the latter.

"We own a few ports, such as Johor Port, PTP (Port of Tanjung Pelepas) and now we are the second substantial holder in Northport (a wholly-owned subsidiary of NCB).

"If all these three ports can collaborate, we believe we can optimise the value of all these three assets in terms of procurement, staff and expertise. We believe this collaboration can add value to all three ports," he said.

MMC, which acquired a 15.7% stake in NCB in November last year, is the operator of PTP and Johor Port, while NCB operates Northport.

On Malakoff's lacklustre debut on the Main Market of Bursa and dampened share price performance, Che Khalib said despite the fall in its share price — it debuted at RM1.81, just one sen above its intial public offering price of RM1.80, but closed at RM1.73 yesterday — the company's fundamentals are still strong.

He said Malakoff is a stable company with a secure business. He also noted that the successful listing of Malakoff had been positive on MMC's gearing level, lowering it to 0.5 times from 3.2 times.

For the financial year ending December 2015, MMC expects it to match, if not be even better, than last year's performance.

Che Khalib said the group will be putting in competitive bids for the Mass Rapid Transit Line 2 (MRT2) project.

"For MRT2, we are already in, as far as [being] a project delivery partner (PDP) is concerned. With our experience in underground construction, we can put in a very competitive bid to the government," he said.

The joint-venture firm of MMC and Gamuda Bhd was appointed as MRT2's PDP to oversee the multibillion-ringgit project in October last year.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 26, 2015.