KUALA LUMPUR: Quill Capita Trust  (QCT) (fundamental: 0.55; valuation: 3) is looking to double its real estate assets to RM3.2 billion in the next two years through the acquisition of commercial buildings from major shareholders Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) and the Quill Group.

Quill Capita Management Sdn Bhd's acting CEO Yong Su-Lin disclosed this to reporters after  a QCT shareholders' meeting today which approved the real estate investment trust's acquisition of Platinum Sentral from MRCB (fundamental: 0.6; valuation: 0.6) for RM740 million under a cash and share deal. Quill Capita Management is the manager for QCT.

Following the shareholders' nod, MRCB  is now a major shareholder in QCT due to the new QCT shares it received as payment for Platinum Sentral.

At the press conference, Yong said the acquisition would increase QCT's assets from RM868 million to RM1.6 billion, making the group the eighth-largest listed REIT in Malaysia.

As part of the agreement for the acquisition, MRCB has given QCT the first right of refusal to acquire any commercial asset MRCB intends to sell in the future, Yong said.

According to MRCB's website, its commercial assets include the Menara MRCB in Shah Alam, Selangor and Plaza Sentral within KL Sentral.

Yong said the manager would also not rule out acquisition of commercial assets from third parties.

At 12:30pm, QCT shares rose one sen or 0.8% to settle at RM1.23 for a market capitalisation of RM479.9 million.

The stock had risen 5% this year, outperforming the KLCI's 2% rise.

(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.)