Talam - Asset Sales Come To An End ..

Its roughly 2000 acres in Selangor may be one of the reasons Tan Sri Surin bought an indirect stake in Talam in Oct 2013.

The estimated GDV will be more than rm5 billion.

It had 1861 acres in Selangor – in Ampang, Bukit Jalil, Puchong, Sepang and Rawang – with a net book value of rm862 million as at Jan 31 2013.

Along with three properties in KL and in China, the top 10 list had an NBV of rm1.16 billion.

It is worth nothing that Talam sought to dispose of some of these properties. It had proposed to sell a piece of vacant commercial land in Bdr Bukit Beruntung for rm45.4 million, its 85% equity interest in Maxcourt Hotel Ltd in China for rm122 million and 173.4 acres of leasehold vacant land in Mukim Batang Berjuntai, Kuala Selangor for rm26 million.

Talam has returned to the black for the financial year 2014 ended Jan 31 contributed by gains made on disposals of land.

While most of the company’s FY2015 earnings will still come from asset sales, going forward, however, Talam plans to retain most of what remains of its land. Its asset sales have more or less come to an end with one or two more to go as it had already sold most of what it wanted to sell.

Talam had rm360 million of assets held for sale in its FY2014 accounts.

Surin emerged as a shareholder in Talam through his acquisition of a 24.68% stake in KEURO through MWE which he controls. KEURO is the largest shareholder of Talam with 29.89% stake.

There has been talk that MPHB Cap Bhd, which is controlled by Surin, may emerge as a JV partner or investor in Talam through a disposal by KEURO. He has an indirect stake of 37.19% in MPHB.

Talam turned around in FY2014 after making losses for three straight years.

As at Jan 31 2014, Talam’s debt to equity ratio stood at 0.6 times while total liabilities amounted to rm340 million.

Its net asset per share was 13.9 sen.