Naluri purchase to position Atlan as developer

ATLAN Holdings Bhd’s acquisition of Naluri Corp Bhd will help position the group as a property developer and a duty-free shop operator.

Atlan has a 38% stake in Naluri and is making a voluntary general offer to buy the remaining shares it does not own in the company.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Thursday, Naluri said it had received a conditional takeover offer from Atlan to acquire the remaining 359,610,598 RM1 shares in Naluri at 75 sen each.

Naluri will be delisted and privatised after the acquisition.

The completion of the takeover will place some RM700mil worth of properties, which include vacant land, commercial properties and apartments, under Atlan.

In Penang, Naluri, via unit Blossom Time Sdn Bhd, is currently involved in a RM400mil landed and high-rise property development on a 65-acre site in Batu Ferringhi.

The property is worth about RM120mil, given the present market price of RM60 per sq ft for land in Batu Ferringhi.

The first three phases of the development comprises three-storey semi-detached and detached houses, while the fourth and final phase consists of luxurious condominiums.

Blossom Time will be launching 129 units, priced between RM1.2mil and RM1.8mil, in mid-2008. It has sold over 80% of the first batch of 57 units launched a year earlier.

In Johor, Naluri owns land valued at over RM200mil near the Iskandar Development Region.

In Kuala Lumpur, it has an office block, a hotel and apartments, which are worth about RM370mil, given today’s market value.

The takeover of Naluri, which has 64.54% equity interest in DFZ Capital Bhd, will also give Atlan control over DFZ’s duty-free stores in the main terminal of KL International Airport, Rantau Panjang in Kelantan, and Stulang Laut in Johor.

Last year, a substantial portion of DFZ’s revenue was derived from the duty-free business.

For the first nine months of the financial year ended November 2007, Atlan posted a pre-tax profit of RM2.7mil on revenue of RM91mil. That compared with RM15.8mil and RM109mil a year earlier.

Atlan, headquartered in the Bayan Lepas Industrial Estate, is also involved in the manufacture of precision mechanical products for photocopiers, digital cameras, and audio-visual devices.

By The Star (by David Tan)