IPO WATCH ---Eversendai Corp Bhd

KUALA LUMPUR: Eversendai Corp Bhd, enroute to a listing on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on July 1, is upgrading itself to become a main contractor for high-rise iconic buildings and infrastructure projects.
"We are targeting projects which have high components of steel so we can handle the whole works. This will give us better margins," founder and group managing di-rector Datuk AK Nathan said yesterday at the company's prospectus launch.

Eversendai, a structural steel contractor and fabricator, is bidding for RM1.5 billion worth of infrastructure, high-rise building and power plant projects in Southeast Asia (SEA), India and the Middle East after being invited by the public and private sectors.

Nathan said this year alone, Eversendai expects to win between RM1 billion and RM1.5 billion worth of new jobs. It has so far won close to RM350 million worth of new jobs, increasing its order book to RM1.4 billion.

Eversendai is also looking at gro-wing its power plant construction business and is eyeing several projects in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and India.

Nathan said the company is aiming for steel structural contracts for power plant construction.

In Malaysia, it is looking at the construction of a 1,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant, which is an extension of the existing Tanjung Bin power plant owned by Malakoff Bhd. The government had approved the project on Tuesday.

Eversendai's expertise in power plant was gained from the construction of the Tanjung Bin, Manjung and Jimah power plants se-veral years ago. In India, it has four on-going power plant projects.

Nathan, who pioneered Ever-sendai 27 years ago, is selling 30 per cent of the company to raise RM273.2 million for expansion into the Middle East, India and SEA, and setting up a fabrication plant in Tamil Nadu, India.

Eversendai plans to sell 232.2 million shares of 50 sen each in the company, of which 202 million will be set aside for institutions at an indicative price range of between RM1.66 and RM1.80.

Individual investors would be charged RM1.70 per share or 95 per cent of the institutional price.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd is the sole adviser, underwriter and bookrunner for the IPO.