Major shareholder injects land-bank, property into Dijaya

PETALING JAYA: Dijaya Corp Bhd’s majority shareholder, Danny Tan Chee Sing is injecting his personal assets into flagship property company, Dijaya, to enlarge the size of the company and unlock further value for shareholders, said sources close to the company.

These personal assets are currently privately held by Tan and consists of land-banks nationwide as well as investment properties.

While the size of the assets are not known, sources said the injection of the assets would result in Dijaya’s market capitalisation increasing from RM766.4mil to about RM1bil.

Dijaya shares were suspended at about 4.30pm yesterday with its last traded price of RM1.67. The suspension will be from 9am on March 5 to 5pm on March 6.

In an announcement to Bursa, Dijaya said that the company intended to propose a corporate exercise involving a very substantial transaction.

Sources said: “The intention is to create a bigger company and grow more aggressively, moving forward. The investment properties will also provide some form of recurring income for the company.”

The acquisition was likely to be satisfied by a combination of cash and a corporate exercise, the sources added.

Tan is the single largest shareholder of Dijaya, with a 30.51% stake in the company. The other substantial shareholders are Golden Diversity Sdn Bhd (18.27%) and Impeccable Ace Sdn Bhd (17.87%).

For the fourth quarter to Dec 31, 2011, Dijaya’s net profit rose 12.8% to RM39.02mil on a 53.24% increase in revenue to RM156.2mil. For the full year, net profit increased 50.43% to RM65.07mil on a 27.87% increase in revenue to RM373.72mil. As of the period, the company had cash of RM116.36mil, compared with RM232.74mil previously.

Last month, Dijaya’s managing director Datuk Tong Kien Onn told StarBiz that the company planned to build up its market presence in Johor and Penang, and expected to see a bigger contribution from these two growth markets.

Selangor is still its biggest contributor, accounting for more than 70% of sales and bottomline. This year, Dijaya plans to launch RM1.1bil worth of projects, compared with about RM700mil last year.

In Johor, Dijaya has two joint ventures with Iskandar Waterfront Sdn Bhd for projects in Danga Bay.

Tropicana Danga Bay is a 60:40 joint venture between Dijaya and its partner, with an expected gross development value (GDV) of RM3.8bil and an estimated period of eight to 10 years to complete.

Dijaya also has 50:50 joint venture with Iskandar Waterfront to undertake the 91ha Tropicana Danga Cove. This development has a GDV of RM2.8bil and is expected to be completed in 10 to 12 years.

In Penang, Dijaya has a 55:45 joint venture with Ivory Properties Group Bhd to buy and develop a 41.02ha in Bayan Mutiara. The joint-venture company, Tropicana Ivory Sdn Bhd will undertake a mixed residential and commercial property project with a GDV of RM9.8bil over the next eight to 12 years.

By The Star (by Tee Lin Say)