Shareholders Approve Zelan's Restructuring Plan To Remove Accumulated Losses, Reduce Debt

Shareholders Approve Zelan's Restructuring Plan To Remove Accumulated Losses, Reduce Debt
The Edge  
Business News - Saturday, 30 September 2014

KUALA LUMPUR (September 30): Shareholders of loss-making Zelan Corp today approved the Construction and Engineering firm's proposal for a corporate restructuring plan to wipe out its accumulated losses and trim its debt level.

Speaking after its AGM today, Zelan's managing director Datuk Mohd Nor bin Idrus said the restructuring plan gives the opportunity for the firm to start on a "clean slate", as it will have a cleaner balance sheet. He however said Zelan will need time to effectively turn around, as one financial year will not be sufficient.

"It will take more than one financial year for us to turn around. But what's good about this restructuring plan is, it will give us a clean slate and we will be able to start over," Mohd Nor told reporters today.

Zelan has proposed a series of exercises which including disposing of 56.67 million of its shares in IJM Corp Bhd, reducing its share par value by 40 sen to 10 sen each, and a one-for-two rights issues which comes with one free detachable warrant. Mohd Nor said Affin Investment Bank Bhd will advise the company on the disposal of the IJM shares.

Going forward, he said Zelan will continue bidding for more construction jobs locally and does not rule out for projects overseas. According to Mohd Nor, Zelan's order book stands at about RM4billion, of which includes the concessions held by the company.