Sentoria debuts on the Main Market at 84 sen

KUALA LUMPUR: Sentoria Group Bhd, made its debut on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities at 84 sen today, with 3,000 shares traded.

The shares recorded a discount of three sen over its offer price of 87 sen.

Sentoria, the first company listing for this year, is the developer and operator of Bukit Gambang Resort City (BGRC) in Kuantan, Pahang.

It is also the first and largest water park resort city in the east coast of Malaysia.

The company had earlier said it had received a total of 6,829 applications for 127.2 million shares with a total value of RM108.1 million, for the public tranche of 20.0 million shares under the group's initial public offering (IPO).

Its IPO had been oversubscribed by 5.4 times.

The company planned to invest RM48 million from internally-generated funds to develop a safari park, slated to commence operations by year-end.

Among its ongoing projects are Arabian Bay Resort, the safari park and Taman Indera Sempurna 2.

The company said it is undertaking a RM735 million gross development value project, known as Global Heritage, to develop up to 1,070 units of themed resort villas and a five-star, 273-suite boutique hotel over 46.134 hectares.

In a statement today it said the resort villas, sold on a sale-and-leaseback option strategy, will feature distinctive architectural designs based on international themes.

Its Head of Public and Investors Relations Nasiruddin Nasrun said the development of Global Heritage - the company's first high value project in BGRC - is in tandem with the group's growing profile as a hospitality operator and property developer in the east coast.

"We aim to not only increase our accommodation capacity in BGRC, but also attract high-end visitors to our theme park attractions and comprehensive conference and exhibition facilities," he added.

Global Heritage is targeted for completion by 2018 in stages.

"The sale-and-leaseback strategy gives property investors the option to buy and lease their luxury villas back to BGRC," the company said.

Sentoria's IPO raised RM51.6 million in proceeds for the group.

Sentoria said RM27.7 million would be allocated for working capital, RM11.2 million for repayment of bank borrowings, RM9.0 million for the purchase of property, plant and equipment and the balance RM3.7 million, to defray listing expenses.

By Bernama