Johor contractor eyes listing
28/09/2006 The Star By Zazali Musa

JOHOR BARU: Johor-based construction and property company Mahabuilders Sdn Bhd is seeking a listing on Bursa Malaysia main board next year.

General manager Abdullah Yusup said the company had engaged a professional consultant for its initial public offering (IPO) exercise.

He said the consultant was currently preparing the flotation proposal and would submit an application to the Securities Commission towards year-end.

“We are targeting to be listed in the first or second quarter of 2007,” Abdullah told StarBiz.

Set up in May 1983 by two contractors, Mahadun Abdul Rahim and Muhammad Said Hassan, the company had its main activity in construction, he said.

Initially known as Mahadun Binaan Sdn Bhd, the company changed its name to Mahabuilders Sdn Bhd in 1994, he added.

Abdullah said as part of the IPO exercise, the company was currently filing data on its completed and existing projects and those in negotiations.

He said that since 2001, the company had acquired and revived several abandoned property projects in Johor.

“We are actually a white knight in the construction industry or a saviour of unfinished projects,” Abdullah told a press conference earlier.

The company was the only one in Johor and among the few in the country involved in reviving abandoned property projects, he said, adding that few companies were keen on taking up such jobs.

Revived projects include 400 condominiums in Taman Skudai Baru, 88 link houses and 27 shoplots in Taman Baiduri Johor Baru and a 250-acre industrial estate in Senai.

Abdullah said there were about 30 abandoned residential projects in Johor and over 200 projects elsewhere in the country for rehabilitation.

He said Mahabuilders was finalising details to revive 1,250 low- and medium-cost flats in Larkin where the state government owned the land.

It was also currently negotiating with a private developer to rehabilitate a condominium project in Kuala Lumpur, he said.

Abdullah said if everything went well with this project, it would be a stepping-stone for the company to move beyond Johor, probably early next year.