Capital markets executive summary | Thu 27 Jul 2023

Capital markets executive summary | Thu 27 Jul 2023

Daythree Digital closed more than double IPO price on ACE Market listing

Tricor Investor & Issuing House Services Sdn Bhd had announced earlier that the public applied for 3.12b shares of the tech-driven global business services (GBS) company or an oversubscription rate of 129.2 times. The stock ended the day at 62.5 sen for a 32.5 sen or 108.33% gain against its 30 sen initial public offering (IPO) price. The price opened at 65 sen and hit a 73 sen intra-day high, while volume traded was 141.76m. The company raised RM33.12m with RM14.7m for working capital to recruit an additional 380 customer experience executives and RM3.02m to recruit industry experts to capture growth opportunities in the local GBS landscape. The company said that the IPO offers greater financial flexibility to pursue future growth opportunities, enhance the company’s reputation, and retain and attract new skilled employees from the GBS industry.

reNIKOLA to raise RM2b for renewable energy projects

The fundraising exercises are for its pipeline of projects including solar in Southeast Asia. The company will be issuing RM390m sukuk in Aug 2023, which will be the 1st sukuk to be climate bonds certified. The company is 45%-owned by Thailand’s B.Grimm Power and will complete a reverse takeover of a shell company, Pimpinan Ehsan, by 1Q2024. The listing exercise will raise additional equity for the development of more renewable projects. The company plans to expand its renewable projects under operation and under development to 1 gigawatt peak (GWp) in the next 3 years from its existing 178 megawatt peak (MWp) plants currently in operation. While the company’s focus is Malaysia, it is also exploring other Asean countries and South Asia. Apart from solar, it is open to other renewable energy projects including biogas and green hydrogen.

We email an executive summary of 5 main capital markets news daily for busy professionals to keep up-to-date in an information-overloaded world.

JAKS Resources to participate in Italy solar photovoltaic project

JAKS Power Sdn Bhd signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany-based Zero Carbon Energy Europe GmbH (ZC Energy) to participate in a solar photovoltaic project with an installed capacity of 63.3 MW in Tuscany, Italy. JAKS has 3 months for a due diligence exercise following which it may sign a definitive project investment agreement with ZC Energy. ZC Energy develops and invests in renewable energy projects, trades renewable energy products, and operates and manages photovoltaic, wind turbine, hydrogen and storage systems. Its sister companies, BaySolar AG and Bay Energy Group, completed many solar photovoltaic projects in Europe. Italy doubled its renewable electricity generation in 2005-2021 to 40.5% of the total electricity generated. The Italian government targets 65% electricity from renewable energy by 2030. The counter closed at 20 sen.

JPMorgan predicts gold to hit USD2k per ounce by end-2023

Despite the US Federal Reserve raising the federal funds rate by 0.25% to 5.25%-5.5%, the highest in 22 years, JPMorgan Chase & Co sees a trading opportunity with the expected recession and interest rates falling. According to the bank, gold prices will go beyond USD2k (RM9,091.89) an ounce by year-end and hit fresh records in 2024. The driver for gold will be falling real yields in the US when the Federal Reserve starts to cut rates starting 2Q2024. JPMorgan targets an average price of USD2,175 per ounce for gold bullion in 4Q2024.

Ant Group restructuring for IPO

The company will carve out non-core operations from its China financial-related business. It will keep its blockchain, database management services and international business out of a main entity that will apply for a financial holding licence in China. After Ant Group completes the restructuring and it obtains a licence for its financial holding company, it can prepare for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong. Previously, the company sought a dual Shanghai-Hong Kong listing before the government intervened. This follows the finalisation of a 3-year investigation by Chinese regulators into the Jack Ma-founded financial technology company. Regulators imposed a CNY7.12b (RM4.54b) fine this month. The billionaire’s entanglement with the government cost his empire about USD850b in lost valuation.