KUALA LUMPUR (June 2): Techfast Holdings Bhd has secured a RM1.46 billion contract to supply a range of marine fuel oils over a three-year period to a Singapore-based integrated marine fuel oil logistics provider.

In a bourse filing, Techfast said its wholly-owned subsidiary Fast Energy Sdn Bhd (FESB) will supply Wise Marine Pte Ltd up to 20,000 tonnes of low sulphur fuel oil, low sulphur marine gas oil and high sulphur fuel oil every month.

The components manufacturing group said this is its second supply contract with Wise Marine. In March, it had signed a RM2.2 billion deal to supply up to 30,000  tonnes of marine fuel oils per month to Wise Marine.

The delivery to Wise Marine commenced in April, with a supply of 10,000 tonnes of marine fuel oils per month, said Techfast.

“Our volume of marine oil fuels supplied has been limited by the availability of bunkering vessels,"  said Techfast executive director Vincent Tan Wye Chuan in a statement.

"Hence, we have decided to enter into a strategic joint venture, whereby Techfast will fund the purchase of a bunkering vessel to increase our capacity to handle larger supply volumes,” he said.

FESB's joint venture with Wise Marine and Fultonn Marine Sdn Bhd involves the purchase of suitable product tankers and perforing O&G trading activities.

Fultonn Marine is responsible for facilitating the purchase of the vessel, while Techfast is to provide the funding.

“With the new vessel, we are able to expand the group’s supply capacity and deliver marine fuels of up to 50,000 tonnes per month to Wise Marine. This will enable us to secure a larger share of the oil bunkering market in Port Klang, enhancing our revenue streams," said Tan.

To help finance the vessel acquisition, Techfast has proposed a two-for-one rights issue with free warrants to raise up to RM109.1 million.

The group has also proposed the disposal of its wholly-owned subsidiary Techfast Precision Sdn Bhd to raise funds of RM6.1 million cash.

Techfast's share price rose half a sen or 1.61% to close at 31.5 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM124.9 million. The counter saw 9.81 million shares exchanging hands.