Talam

It is hoping that Tan Sri Surin Upatkoon’s entry will bring a new lease of life to Talam.

Surin was in the limelight with his entry into KEURO and Talam Transform. He holds stake in MPHB and Magnum. He also holds a 32.62% stake in MWE that had acquired a 24.68% stake in KEURO.

KEURO, the West Coast Expressway concessionaire owns a 30.04% stake in Talam. This means that Surin has replaced the outgoing Chan as the single largest shareholder of KEURO and Talam.

Whether Talam Transform’s fortunes will bounce back with the help of Surin is debatable, but market observers think that the emergence of SUrin bodes well for Talam.

Chairman of Talam has not talked about possible collaboration between MPHB and Talam.

The reputation of developers does play a crucial role on how well their properties sell. With a substantial stake in the company, expects Surin to get some board positions. In such cases, usually presume the new shareholder to enter the board and probably pump in some assets.

Industry observers do not rule out the probability of an improvement in Talam’s market position. Surin could possibly take Talam into different market segment.

In fact, MPHB Capital and Talam’s business shares some similarity with both involved in the property business.

It was reported in June 2013 that MPHB Capital has no intention of going into developing property. The group was essentially a landowner and property investor. The company is looking for JV partners to develop the land or dispose of the assets if the opportunity arises.

That is it could some form of JV or maybe MPHB Capital injects asset into Talam and lets Talam develop the land.

Talam’s most valuable asset is the 753ha located in Ampang, Sepang, Puchong, Bukit Jalil and Rawang valued at rm1.16 billion.

The large tracts of land could be valuable since property prices have doubled or tripled in the past 20 years. The sharp appreciation of land could possibly bring the company back to vibrancy.

Overall, observers remain cautious on Talam’s performance down the road. It remains to be seen how it restructures the debt and also the viability of its business model.

Talam is aggressively paring down its debt via disposals and participating with new partners to jointly devevlop property.

Its current borrowings stand at rm400 million and it managed to reduce its total liabilities to rm1.43 billion in 2009.

It seems there is light at the end of tunnel for Talam with the slow recovery of debt.