This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 21, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Paramount Corp Bhd wants to expedite the distribution of the RM177 million allocated as special dividend to its investors following the completion of the sale of its controlling equity interest in its pre-tertiary education business to Prestigion Education Sdn Bhd.

“An announcement will be made once the board decides on the entitlement basis and the date of distribution,” Paramount group chief executive officer Jeffrey Chew said in a statement yesterday.

The amount received was RM569.2 million, that is 5.3% more than the disposal consideration of RM540.5 million. The additional amount is attributed to Paramount’s entitlement of Locked Box Compensation less notified leakages.

With the completion of the transaction, Paramount will retain an effective 20% stake in the pre-tertiary education business. The pre-tertiary institutions involved are Sri KDU Schools, REAL Schools, REAL Kids preschools and Cambridge English For Life enrichment centres.

Going forward, Chew said Paramount will intensify its efforts and resources into growing its core business of property development, which contributes 75% of the group’s revenue.

The group will embark on its first property development project outside Malaysia in the first quarter of this year.