Olympia ... dated Sept 2011
…
Tan
Sri Yap Yong Seong, the former police officer turned businessman, has been increasing
his indirect stake in Olympia Industries Bhd.
The businessman, better known as Duta Yap in corporate circles, has been busy
in 2011, clearing the balance sheets of his listed entities, namely Olympia Bhd
and Dutaland.
Filings to the stock exchange show that Yap had raised his indirect stake in
Olympia to 31.4 per cent
as at mid Sept 2011. In July 2011, his indirect stake was 27.67 per cent. The
buying was done through Duta Equities Sdn Bhd, which bought 26.88 million
Olympia shares in Sept
2011 alone, from the open market.
Yap holds the stake in Olympia
via his shareholding in Kenny Height Developments Sdn Bhd, Duta Equities and
DutaLand. Incidentally, Kenny Height and Duta Equities are major stakeholders
in DutaLand, helping Yap have an indirect
stake of around 44 per cent in the company.
At this point of time,
it is unclear why Yap is raising his stake in Olympia
, which is synonymous for its gaming business in Sabah
.
Olympia has
other interests too. In June 2011, the company announced a plan to sell 15.3
hectares of freehold land in Johor for RM80 million. The deal could help
Olympia save as much as
RM9.31 million in interest on debts. Olympia has debts of about RM199.32 million, while its total
assets stands at around RM1.1 billion.
Besides the planned land sale in Johor, Yap
has also been busy on other fronts. In July 2011, DutaLand announced plans to
sell 11,977.91ha of plantation land in Sabah via its 100 per cent unit, Pertama
Land & Development Sdn Bhd, to IOI Corp Bhd for RM830 million. The original
investment in Pertama
Land was RM33 million in
October 1995. The sale will give DutaLand a net gain of RM511 million. But
in Oct 2011 IOI Corp’s move to terminate its proposed acquisition of
11,977.91 ha (29,597.42 acres) of oil palm plantation land from Dutaland for
RM830 million has been rejected by the latter.
DutaLand has about RM149
million debts, alongside total assets of RM1.21 billion, meaning if the sale
goes through, Dutaland could theoratically wipe out all its debts, and still have
enough cash leftover.
Dutaland ... dated July 2011 …
It has
proposed to dispose of some 11,977.91ha of plantation land to IOI Corp Bhd for
RM830 million cash (Called off in Oct 2011).
Its initial investment in the land was RM33
million. The net book value of the properties was RM319 million as at end-June
2010 and DutaLand will make a gain of RM511 million from the proposed disposal.
The properties have been earmarked for divestment since 2007.
Proceeds from the sale
will be used to redeem a portion of its irredeemable convertible bonds and the
board is contemplating paring down borrowings with the remaining proceeds.
Some RM4 million will be used to cancel 7.5 million irredeemable convertible
bonds, leaving the remaining amount at RM5.6 million.
DutaLand’s borrowings stood at RM240.1 million as
at June 30, 2010.
The funds would come in
handy for the group to kickstart work on the remaining parcels of its prime
property project in the vicinity of Sri Hartamas and Mont’Kiara.
DutaLand, formerly known as Mycom Bhd, formed a consortium with sister company,
Olympia Industries Bhd, to develop an 88-acre (35.6ha) freehold tract in the
area that was purchased more than 30 years ago. The land has been divided into
nine parcels to be developed over 10 to 15 years.
The successful
development of the project, known as Kenny
Heights , is thought to
be key to the revival of the group’s property business. However, plans to
kickstart the project have been beset by a series of failed joint-venture
agreements and lack of funds.
The proposed disposal of plantation land is expected to be completed by the
fourth quarter of the year (2011). The transaction would reduce DutaLand’s gearing to
0.17 times from 0.26 times while net assets per share would increase to RM2.30
from RM1.44.