Digital Treasures Center Secures MPI Licence to Provide Digital Payment Token and Other Payment Services in Singapore

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has granted Digital Treasures Center (DTC) the Major Payment Institution (MPI) licence. Securing the full licence means DTC has exited from the exemption status and is now a fully regulated provider (MAS licence number: PS20200531) of Digital Payment Token (DPT) and other payment services under the Payment Services Act (PSA).

Ms. Alice Liu, Chief Executive Officer and founder of DTC

“We are excited to obtain the full licence from MAS. With the full licensing, we will continue to build on the good work that the team is currently doing while looking to expand our footprint globally starting from our ASEAN neighbours,” said Ms. Alice Liu, Chief Executive Officer and founder of DTC. “Our base in Singapore provides us with the unique competitive advantage in leverage the country’s strong business infrastructure, strong government support, innovation ecosystem and strong regulatory framework to allow us to expand our company.

Effect 1 August 2022, DTC will be providing the following payment activities under the MPI licence:

  1. Account Issuance Service – open accounts for merchants and consumers to accept and pay e-money and non-card transactions.
  2. Merchant Acquisition Service – enable merchants to leverage DTC services to accept and process payment transactions online and offline.
  3. Domestic Money Transfer Service – provide local money transfer services in Singapore.
  4. Cross-border Money Transfer Service – provide cross-border money transfer services globally.
  5. E-money Issuance Service – issue e-money for merchants and consumers.
  6. Digital Payment Token Service – facilitate transactions with digital payment tokens.

“We are grateful for the support and trust that our clients and community have given us over the years. We are optimistic about the future of cryptocurrency as a use case for payment. Over the past few months, we are seeing an uptick of enquiries and onboarding from merchants and companies from healthcare to music, F&B and automobiles on enabling crypto payments,” Liu said. “As crypto payment gains momentum, we are hopeful to see more merchants from various industries coming onboard to accept crypto as an additional form of payment.”

About Digital Treasures Center

Digital Treasures Center Pte Ltd (“DTC”) is an enterprise payment service provider incorporated in Singapore with PCI-DSS level 1 certification and winner of the prestigious Fintech Partner Award at Singapore Fintech Festival. Our payment solution – DTC Pay, offers clients and merchants the ability to receive and settle payment, including cryptocurrency. DTC Pay is compliant, fast, secure and cost efficient. DTC is dedicated to building the payment infrastructure that would allow merchants and consumers to interact with fiat and cryptocurrency seamlessly.

Find out more at www.dtcpayment.com

For media related queries, please contact:
Mr. Desmond Yong
Email: desmond.yong@dtcpayment.com
Mobile: +65 8889 7802

SESAMi launches innovative e-financing marketplace amidst rising loan interest rates for businesses

SESAMi has successfully launched a collaboration with its 5 banking partners including OCBC, CIMB and Linklogis to enable suppliers using its platform to get paid immediately on their outstanding invoices and purchase orders.

Simplified Onboarding

SESAMi will be reaching out to the supplier community to initiate this program. “The funding process will be massively sped up through leveraging on our Early Payment System (EPS), which was launched earlier this year for the SESAMi supplier community. With the digital financing program, suppliers only need to submit minimal documents to be on-boarded under the program,” said Sharath Singh, Commercial Director for SESAMi.

Competitive Pricing

The marketplace will allow suppliers to pick and choose the financing partner best suited to their needs. The financing partners will, on the other hand, leverage on the data provided by SESAMi’s e-procurement system to make faster and more accurate credit decisions in real time, allowing the suppliers to gain access to financing at a lower interest rate than the conventional products offered off the shelf. “Customer experience remains key to this initiative whilst we also acknowledge the local businesses priorities is to keep their costs low. This marketplace will give them the best of both worlds,” added Mr Ong Teck Soon, SESAMi Holding’s Chairman and Group CEO.

Digital Financing Partners

Linklogis

Founded in 2016 with major shareholders such as Tencent, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), and Standard Chartered Bank, Linklogis is one of the largest supply chain finance technology service providers in the world. Linklogis was successfully listed on the main board of HKEX in April of 2021 as the first supply chain finance technology SaaS enterprise listed in China. On 3rd June 2022, Green Link Digital Bank (GLDB), founded by a consortium comprising Linklogis and Greenland Group, commenced banking business as one of the first Digital Wholesale Banks with official approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Eager to bring cutting-edge financial technology and experience in serving SMEs to Singapore, Mr. Raymond Yeo, Director and Head of Business Development of Linklogis Singapore, said, “This is an exciting opportunity for Linklogis to introduce itself to the local SME market. We hope to showcase our dynamic tech-focused platform to the suppliers within SESAMi’s eco-system and provide a seamless user experience across all stages of the financing process.”

OCBC Bank

OCBC Bank is the longest established Singapore bank, formed in 1932 from the merger of three local banks, the oldest of which was founded in 1912. Recognised for its financial strength and stability, OCBC Bank is consistently ranked among the World’s Top 50 Safest Banks by Global Finance and has been named Best Managed Bank in Singapore by The Asian Banker.

Mr Eric Ong, Senior Vice President, Global Commercial Banking, for OCBC remarked, “The trade data made available from SESAMi allows the bank to leverage on an alternative source of data for credit assessment. By using this data, SME customers no longer need to go through an onerous loan application process and are able to obtain funds much faster.”

About SESAMi (www.sesami.com)

SESAMi was founded in 1999 by a consortium of large corporates to develop e-sourcing and e-procurement services. Over the years, the company has consolidated its position in the e-procurement sector in Singapore, while expanding into other services like demand aggregation and e-financing. In 2018, SESAMi further expanded its technological capabilities by acquiring Capital Match, a leading lending platform in Singapore focusing on trade finance. Today, SESAMi processes around S$6bn of e-purchase orders and S$2bn of e-invoices annually on its platform with over $225M worth of origination via its e-financing program.

For media enquiries, please contact: Donny Ong
Email: donny.ong@sesami.com

BFSI leaders in India are gathering to discuss the roadmap for the future of the BFSI sector in the country

Big BFSI Future Tech Show and Awards is hosting technology leaders from across India to meet, network, learn, and engage with some of the world’s most renowned technology thought-leaders, subject matter experts, and technology innovators in a constructive, open-dialogue environment – to find solutions to issues impeding their operations and services.

The show will feature interactive sessions, insightful tech talks, panel discussions and, engaging networking opportunities, providing a hands-on learning experience to the technology stakeholders converging from the Indian BFSI & NBFC space. Top tech leaders and key decision-makers will engage in dialogues on redefining the future of banking and discuss varied topics such as:

  • The Rise of Challenger Banks in India
  • The Future of Money
  • Transactions and the Decline of Cash
  • Data-driven CX for higher RoI
  • Chatbots as ‘Financial Concierge’
  • A transition towards Green Banking and much more.

The show will feature a ground-breaking collaboration of experts such as

  • Amitabh Ranjan, Chairman, Reserve Bank of India
  • Anila Rao, VP – APAC, Haptik
  • Sumeet Puri, Chief Technology Solutions Officer, Solace Corporation
  • Chandan Gupta, Vertical Head – Data Center Services, Web Werks – Iron Mountain India DCs
  • Harshwardhan Mittal, CTO, Yubi Pvt. Ltd (Formerly CredAvenue)
  • Somayajula Shekhar Rao, Head Sales – Strategic Accounts – EFLV India, Tata Communications Limited
  • Srinivasa Raghavan, Director, Product Management, Site24X7
  • Mohan Bhat, MD & Co-founder, Accops
  • Mahesh Ramamoorthy, CIO, Yes Bank
  • Amit Saxena, CTO, RBI, Innovation Hub
  • Prashant Thakkar, COOT, LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Ltd (LICMF)
  • Nandkishore Purohit, Chief Digital and Technology Officer-IIFL Securities
  • Pinak Chakraborthy, CIO, Airtel Payment Bank
  • Karthikeyan Krishnaswamy, Co-founder and CTO, KreditBee
  • Navaneethan M, SVP- CISO & Head-it, Groww
  • Naseem Halder, CISO, Acko
  • Dheepak Rajoo, SVP, Digital Banking Technology, PMO, HR Technology, IT Governance RBL Bank
  • Prasanna Lohar, Chief Innovation Officer, DCB Bank, to name a few…

The show will feature Big BFSI Awards, an awards ceremony to honour the top 100 Leaders in India for their technology leadership, strategic influence, and significant contribution towards delivering excellence and innovation in the BFSI domain.

The winners will be announced at the Big BFSI Future Tech Show & Awards on 27 July 2022, taking place at Taj Lands End in Mumbai, India.

The event will also host an exciting contest wherein 10 lucky winners will be awarded with gift hampers. The show will conclude with a networking cocktail for the attendees.

While speaking about the event, CEO of Trescon, Mithun Shetty stated “After 9 successful editions, we are excited to bring yet another Big BFSI Show and Awards which is bringing together pre-qualified leaders, marketers, and experts under one roof to provide the attendees with actionable insights for their business strategy through a mix of informative sessions, keynotes, case studies, fireside chats, one-on-one sessions, and panel discussions.” He further added, “The show will revolutionize the future of banking, innovation and technology, and everything will be in one distinct landscape where trust is the only thing you have to sell in banking and finance.”

Partners at Big BFSI Future Tech Show & Awards include:

Supported By – NITI Aayog
Gold partners – Web Works and Iron MountainHaptik Technologies LimitedSolace
Award Partner – Yubi
Silver partners – DenodoAccopsTata Tele Business Services (TTBS) and Site 24X7
Bronze partners – NeoSOFT TechnologiesDistaManageEngine and Kaleyra

To claim your complimentary passes to the event please visit the official event website.

About Big BFSI Future Tech Show

Big BFSI Future Tech Show & Awards is a thought-leadership-driven, business-focused effort that offers a platform for tech professionals who wish to investigate and use cutting-edge future technology within their company.

About Trescon

Trescon is a global business events and consulting firm that provide a wide range of business services to a diversified client base that includes corporations, governments and individuals. Trescon is specialized in producing highly focused B2B events that connect businesses with opportunities through conferences, roadshows, expos, demand generation, investor connect and consulting services.

For further details about the announcement, please contact:

Sagari S Satthianadhan,
Media, PR & Corporate Communications, Trescon
+91 81059 75937
media@tresconglobal.com

ING spins out Pyctor digital assets technology to GMEX Group

ING announced today that it has spun out Pyctor to GMEX Group (“GMEX”), a leader in digital business and technology solutions for exchanges and post-trade market infrastructure.

Pyctor’s digital post-trade market infrastructure technology is designed for firms operating in regulated environments. It provides highly secure digital custody and transactional network services for a broad range of digital assets, as well as delivering interoperability between permissioned and public blockchains. Pyctor was incubated in ING Neo’s Amsterdam innovation lab, in collaboration with major financial institutions and regulators.

Pyctor is now a service offering within GMEX. Hirander Misra is appointed Chairman of Pyctor with other senior appointments to be announced in due course. ING will continue its relationship with Pyctor and collaborate through ING’s digital assets team.

Olivier Guillaumond, Global head of innovation Labs & Fintechs, ING commented: “After spinning out Stemly last year from ING Labs Singapore, Pyctor has been another innovation success story at ING Neo. ING Labs incubated Pyctor leveraging ING’s DLT expertise, deep digital assets knowledge and continuous feedbacks from regulators and network participants. We now have found the right partner in GMEX to scale Pyctor to the next stage. It brings the ideal connectivity between multiple trading parties and digital assets custodians, while addressing interoperability issues experienced in the market.”

Hirander Misra, CEO of GMEX Group said: “Pyctor’s decentralized network of institutional participants and Multi-Party Computation (MPC) proprietary custody technology offering compliments and strengthens the breadth of GMEX’s MultiHub ‘global network of networks’ as part of our strategic ethos of stimulating growth in the digital assets market”. He added: “With this acquisition, GMEX Group consolidates its position as the first platform to offer an end-to-end multi-asset, multi-sector Hybrid Finance (HyFi) solution that bridges the gap between off-chain Traditional Finance (TradFi) and on-chain Decentralized Finance (DeFi) across jurisdictions.”

Combining the Pyctor digital assets post-trade market infrastructure for global custodians, institutional issuers and other capital market actors with GMEX’s MultiHub will empower financial markets participants to securely issue, access, manage, store and transact digital assets in a regulatory compliant manner alongside their traditional assets.

About ING

ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s more than 57,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 40 countries.

ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).

Sustainability forms an integral part of ING’s strategy, evidenced by ING’s leading position in sector benchmarks.

ING’s ESG rating by MSCI was upgraded to ‘AA’ in December 2020. ING Group shares are included in major sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) index products of leading providers STOXX, Morningstar and FTSE Russell. In January 2021, ING received an ESG evaluation score of 83 (‘strong’) from S&P Global Ratings.

For further information on ING, please visit www.ing.com. Frequent news updates can be found in the Newsroom or via the @ING_news Twitter feed.

About GMEX Group

GMEX is a global market infrastructure vendor providing multi-asset trading, exchange matching engine and post-trade business solutions, and Ecosystem-as-a-Service (EsaaS) technology.

These include, the GMEX MultiHub, which is a cloud based trading and post trade digital market infrastructure platform that as a ‘multi-asset network of networks’ facilitates a first of its kind collaboration across major institutions, regulatory regimes and start-ups with the goal of bringing digital assets to a wider audience.

For more information visit www.gmex-group.com or Twitter @GMEX_Group

About Pyctor

Pyctor is an institutional-grade custody solution for the digital asset ecosystem.
It provides safekeeping and transaction services for any digital assets, by utilising its patent-pending multi-signatory and multi-party approval protocol.

The solution implements a decentralized operating model that leverages upon hardware technologies like Hardware Security Module (HSM), as well as proprietary Multi-Party Computation (MPC) software. The benefits of this approach are increased security, resilience, 24/7 availability and risk mitigation.

Pyctor’s Travel Rule Module (Pyxis), offers FATF Rule 16 compliance and is compatible with the Travel Rule Protocol (TRP). It enables regulated DeFi and digital assets AML compliance.

For more information visit https://www.pyctor.com/

Media Contacts

GMEX Group & Pyctor
Helen Disney
The Realization Group
Tel: +44 (0)7792 376 546
Helen.disney@therealizationgroup.com
pr@gmex-group.com

ING Group
Marc Smulders
Tel: +31 (0)20 5762847
marc.smulders@ing.com

Elite Partners Acquires Distribution Facility in UK

Elite Partners Capital (“EPC”) has completed another acquisition of a distribution facility in the UK for over GBP 30M.

The asset is located within Wrexham Industrial Estate, a premier industrial location and one of the largest industrial estates in the UK, well placed to serve both Wales and England. The estate extends to over 550 hectares and is home to over 340 businesses creating employment for over 10,000 people. The distribution facility, consisting of two detached industrial warehouse facilities, provides in total 723,114 sqft of built up space on a 45.9 acres land. It is fully let to one of the UK’s largest shop-at-home retailers Shop Direct Home Shopping (a subsidiary of The Very Group – a multi-brand online retailer and financial services provider in the UK and Ireland).

This represents the first UK acquisition for the second series of EPC’s Logistic Funds. Riding on its strong track record and the deep network the manager has built over the years, Elite Logistics Fund II continues to focus on building a portfolio of high-quality logistics warehouse or infrastructure across Europe and the UK.

The acquisition in Wrexham, according to Mr. Victor Song, CEO of Elite Partners Capital, is part of the firm’s bigger plan to amass an institutional-scale portfolio of prime logistics assets across Europe and the UK. He added, “We believe that this asset is particularly well-placed to benefit from the highly dynamic logistics market in the UK where the demand for logistics warehouses remains strong and resilient”.

The UK Industrial & Logistics sector has seen an outperformance due to the e-Commerce boom over the years, which was further accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

For this transaction, Colliers acted for Elite Partners Capital and B8 Real Estate acted for the vendor.

About Elite Partners Capital

Incorporated in 2017, Elite Partners Capital is a Singapore-based licensed fund manager. The Elite Logistics Fund series has a Pan-European strategy focusing on prime logistics assets in the high-growth and defensive sectors.

Media Contact:
enquiries@elitepartnerscapital.com

Main Market-Bound Seng Fong Holdings Berhad IPO Shares Oversubscribed by 3.09 Times

Tricor Investor & Issuing House Services Sdn Bhd (TIIH) is pleased to announce that the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Seng Fong Holdings Berhad is oversubscribed by 3.09 times.

Managing Director of Seng Fong, Mr. Er Hock Lai
Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Hong Leong Investment Bank, Ms. Lee Jim Leng

Seng Fong’s IPO involves the issuance of 160,874,300 IPO Shares in the following manner:

(A) Retail offering of 42,198,000 IPO Shares to be allocated in the following manner:
– 25,948,000 IPO Shares to the Malaysian public; and
– 16,250,000 IPO Shares to the eligible directors and employees of Seng Fong and its subsidiaries (Group) and persons who have contributed to the success of the Group;

(B) Institutional offering of 118,676,300 IPO Shares to be allocated in the following manner:
– 64,870,000 IPO Shares by way of private placement to Bumiputera investors approved by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (“MITI”); and
– 53,806,300 IPO Shares by way of private placement to other institutional and selected investors.

A total of 3,968 applications for 106,046,800 IPO Shares with a value of RM79,535,100 were received from the Malaysian public, which represents an overall oversubscription rate of 3.09 times. For the Bumiputera public portion, a total of 2,097 applications for 31,762,400 IPO Shares were received, which represents an oversubscription rate of 1.45 times. For the remaining Malaysian public portion, a total of 1,871 applications for 74,284,400 IPO Shares were received, which represents an oversubscription rate of 4.73 times.

Meanwhile, the 16,250,000 IPO Shares available to the eligible directors and employees of the Group and persons who have contributed to the success of the Group have also been fully subscribed.

Managing Director of Seng Fong, Mr. Er Hock Lai said, “We would like to thank investors for their response to our IPO as this is an indication of their confidence in the fundamentals of the business. We can now look forward to capture opportunities arising from the increasing demand from existing customers as well as from new customers as we ramp up production through the hiring of more people for a second shift and implementing ESG initiatives to make our business more sustainable.”

Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Hong Leong Investment Bank, Ms. Lee Jim Leng said: “We are pleased with the reception from investors to Seng Fong’s IPO reflecting their confidence in the solid fundamentals of the business and in the leadership as well as vision of the founders and promoters.”

Hong Leong Investment Bank Berhad is the Principal Adviser, Underwriter and Placement Agent for the IPO.

The notices of allotment will be posted to all successful applicants on or before 6 July 2022. The company will list on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad on 7 July 2022.

Seng Fong Holdings Bhd: http://sengfongholdings.com/

Jubilee Industries Holdings welcomes strategic investor, value-unlocking and synergies to support further growth

Catalist-listed Jubilee Industries Holdings Ltd has entered into a Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with UPC Electronics Pte. Ltd. (Purchaser) for the sale of the Company’s 14% stake in WE Components Pte. Ltd. (WEC), the Group’s EBU (Disposal).

The Disposal offers significant synergies with the Purchaser’s existing operations and strategic priorities, leveraging WEC’s extensive product portfolio and strong presence across Asia. The Hong Kong incorporated Purchaser’s main business is the promotion and distribution of products and solutions of semiconductor manufacturers in the People’s Republic of China and overseas.

The total cash consideration of US$2.1 million received for the Disposal will be utilised for general working capital purposes and the expansion of Jubilee’s business.

Jubilee’s Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Terence Tea, said, “The Disposal reflects the deep value of Jubilee’s EBU that we have built over the years. Working together with UPC, we are confident in the EBU’s long-term growth prospects as we strive to build sustainable value for shareholders.”

Under Dato’ Terence Tea’s leadership, Jubilee’s EBU has staged a full recovery from the initial impact of Covid-19, recording a 67.4% increase in revenue from S$119.9 million for the 12 months ended 31 March 2021 (FY2021) to S$200.7 million for the same period this year (FY2022).

About Jubilee Industries Holdings Ltd

Established in 1993 and listed on SGX-Catalist since 10 July 2009, Jubilee Industries Holdings Limited is a one-stop service provider with two main business segments:

1. Mechanical Business Unit (MBU), which is engaged primarily in precision plastic injection moulding (PPIM) and mould design and fabrication (MDF) services (Mechanical Segment); and
2. Electronics Business Unit (EBU), which distributes integrated electronic components.

Headquartered in Singapore, Jubilee’s production facilities span across Malaysia and Indonesia. Jubilee’s products are sold to customers in the United States, the People’s Republic of China, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and various European countries. For more information, please visit http://www.jihldgs.com

Issued on behalf of Jubilee Industries Holdings Limited
by Waterbrooks.com.sg

For media enquiries, please contact:
Wayne Koo / Elliot Siow
+65 9338 8166 / +65 6381 6347
Email: wayne.koo@waterbrooks.com.sg / elliot@waterbrooks.com.sg

PEFINDO Affirms idA Rating for WIKA

PT Pemeringkat Efek Indonesia (Pefindo) affirms PT Wijaya Karya (Persero) Tbk (IDX: WIKA or Company) rating at idA with ‘stable’ outlook. Pefindo also affirms WIKA’s Shelf Registration Bonds I Year 2020 and Shelf Registration Bonds II Year 2021 at idA, and Shelf Registration Sukuk Mudharabah I Year 2020 and Shelf Registration Sukuk Mudharabah II Year 2021 at idA(sy).

The Company’s rating reflects Pefindo’s optimism in its performance as a strong, national construction company supported by robust financial flexibility and diversified revenue sources. One of the reasons of the affirmation was an increase in new contracts by 57.54% YoY to Rp12.4 trillion (at time of writing) from Rp7.9 trillion.

The rating by Pefindo was well-received by the Company’s President Director, Agung Budi Waskito (Agung BW). He stated that the Company was able to cement its strong position due to WIKA’s assignment to work on the Government’s G20 preparation projects, such as Revitalisation of Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport, Construction of VVIP Terminal of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, and Improvement and Construction of Roads and Bridges in Labuan Bajo.

“The assignment indicated the government’s trust in WIKA’s capability to carry out projects serving as supporting facilities for international events”, said Agung BW.

He added that the Company is prepared to take part in the upcoming construction of the new Capital City.

Follow-up Construction in Labuan Bajo to Celebrate TWG20

The Company plays a role in the Improvement and Construction of Roads and Bridges in Labuan Bajo, Nusa Tenggara Timur to support the G20’s Tourism Working Group (TWG) meeting. The project also helped to realise the Super-Priority Tourism Destinations project (Destinasi Pariwisata Super Prioritas, “DPSP”). In the project, the Company is building roads and bridges spanning from Labuan Bajo – Sp. Nalis – Sp. Kenari, Sp.Kenari – Tana Mori with a total length of 25 kilometres.

This project is a follow-up of the Company’s earlier projects in Labuan Bajo. Its portfolio in Labuan Bajo includes the Operations Supporting Facilities and the Wae Kelambu Multipurpose Terminal at Labuan Bajo Port for PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Persero). Completed in 2021, the port serves as a logistics hub, tourism support, and cargo and container handling in Labuan Bajo. In addition, the Company’s subsidiary, WIKA Gedung oversaw development of Pantai Bukit Marina and Bukit Pramuka, part of the National Strategic Tourist Areas.

In carrying out the projects, the Company always used high quality domestic products increase operations efficiency and support national economic growth.

PT WIJAYA KARYA (Persero) Tbk. [IDX: WIKA]

Contact:
Mahendra Vijaya
Sekretaris Perusahaan
Email: mahendra.v@wikamail.id
Website: https://www.wika.co.id/

Seng Fong Holdings Berhad Launches Prospectus for Main Market IPO

Seng Fong Holdings Berhad, a rubber processor producing and trading Standard Malaysia Rubber and premium grade block rubber. Block rubbers produced are sold directly to end-user customers and international rubber traders, majority of which are tyre manufacturers. Seng Fong is enroute to a listing on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad and is pleased to announce the launch of the Company’s prospectus for the initial public offering (IPO).

Seng Fong’s IPO involves the issuance of 160.87 million ordinary shares or 31.0% of the Company’s enlarged number of issued shares comprising a public issue of 90.81 million shares and an offer for sale of 70.06 million shares. The issued shares will be made available for application in the following manner:

Retail offering of 42.20 million shares representing 8.1% of enlarged number of issued shares will be made available in the following manner:

– 25.95 million shares representing 5.0% of enlarged number of issued shares will be made available for application by the Malaysian public (via balloting), of which 50% will be set aside for bumiputera investors including individuals, companies, societies, co-operatives and institutions
– 16.25 million shares representing 3.1% of enlarged number of issued shares reserved for application by eligible persons

Institutional offering of 118.67 million shares representing 22.9% of enlarged number of issued shares will be made available in the following manner:

– 64.87 million shares by way of private placement to bumiputera investors approved by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry
– 53.80 million shares by way of private placement to other institutional and selected investors

Managing Director of Seng Fong, Mr. Er Hock Lai said, “Our immediate objectives from the listing are to optimise production by increasing our total annual capacity through the hiring of additional workers for a second working shift and implementing the ESG initiatives to make our business to be more sustainable.

“We intend to use part of the proceeds raised the IPO to fund our working capital requirements to expand annual production capacity to 166,000 metric tonnes by 2023 from the current capacity of 142,000 metric tonnes. To further our ESG initiatives, we are also using proceeds raised from the IPO to repay bank borrowings that we have used to install two solar systems that will help reduce overall electricity expenses.”

“We are also allocating proceeds raised from the IPO for the installation of two biomass system using wood chips and replacing diesel to reduce overall fuel costs for our factories. We estimate that the use of the solar systems will result in savings of RM2.6 million while the biomass system will help us save RM3.5 million. On top of the cost saving, the use of renewable energy to reduce electricity and fuel consumption is in line with our emphasis on having sustainable business operations and the need to conserve the environment.”

“Building on our solid fundamentals and business reputation, we intend to recommend at least 50% of our annual net profit as dividend to shareholders subject to the approval of the Board of Directors and shareholders.”

Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of HLIB, Ms. Lee Jim Leng said, “Today marks a milestone for Seng Fong Holdings as the company embarks on a new chapter from a journey that began in 1986 when Mr. Er Hock Lai and his brothers founded the business to process rubber for the domestic market.

We believe that Seng Fong Holdings will be able to leverage on this IPO to attain their immediate objectives while enhancing its presence in the international market for rubber processing.”

Almost all of Seng Fong’s revenue is derived from sales to international customers for FYE2019 to FYE2021. For the nine months ended 31 March 2022, Seng Fong posted RM662.43 million of revenue with gross profit of RM61.74 million and profit after tax of RM31.32 million.

Seng Fong Holdings Bhd: http://sengfongholdings.com/

Hektar Asset Management Appoints New CEO

Hektar Asset Management Sdn. Bhd., the Manager of Hektar Real Estate Investment Trust (Hektar REIT) is pleased to announce the appointment of En. Johari Shukri bin Jamil, 50, as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hektar Asset Management effective 11 June 2022.

En. Johari Shukri bin Jamil, CEO of Hektar Asset Management

En. Johari Shukri bin Jamil, CEO of Hektar Asset Management (Link) En. Johari will succeed Dato’ Hisham bin Othman, 60, who has reached mandatory retirement age after helming Hektar Asset Management as CEO since May 2016. The Board would like to extend its appreciation to Dato’ Hisham for his valuable contribution & service and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

En. Johari who was appointed to the Board of Directors of Hektar REIT as Non Independent Non Executive Director in February 2022 and who is now redesignated as the Executive Director/CEO, brings over 20 years of extensive corporate experience, holding senior leadership positions in various industries, including Real Estate & Industrial Development, Logistics & Engineering.

His expertise in asset management, corporate finance, strategy, operations & managing businesses to achieve the desired results through transformational initiatives is very relevant to the REIT and is expected to be put to good use in leading Hektar REIT to continue its post pandemic recovery and to chart new strategic initiatives. En Johari holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from UTM and a Certificate in Advanced Leadership Program from the Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge.

The Board & the Management looks forward to working with En. Johari to take Hektar REIT to the next phase of growth as we continue our drive to optimise and grow the REIT’s portfolio for stable and sustainable returns to our Unitholders.

About Hektar Real Estate Investment Trust

Hektar Real Estate Investment Trust (Hektar REIT) is Malaysia’s first listed retail-focused REIT. The primary objectives of Hektar REIT are to provide unitholders with sustainable dividend income and to achieve a long-term capital appreciation of the REIT. Hektar REIT was listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad on 4 December 2006 and currently owns 2 million square feet of retail space in 4 states with assets valued at RM1.16 billion as at 31 December 2021. The REIT’s strategic partner is Frasers Centrepoint Trust, part of Frasers Property Ltd, headquartered in Singapore. Hektar REIT is managed by Hektar Asset Management Sdn Bhd and the property manager is Hektar Property Services Sdn Bhd. Hektar REIT’s portfolio of commercial properties includes Subang Parade in Subang Jaya, Selangor; Mahkota Parade in Melaka; Wetex Parade & Classic Hotel in Muar, Johor; Central Square in Sungai Petani, Kedah; Kulim Central in Kulim, Kedah and Segamat Central in Segamat, Johor. For more information, please visit www.HektarREIT.com

For more information or inquiries, please contact:
Hektar Asset Management Sdn Bhd
Investor Communications
Tel: +603 6205 5570
Fax: +603 6205 5571
Email: ir@HektarREIT.com
Web: www.HektarREIT.com