The axe has fallen on another listed oil and gas (O&G) company as Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd rejected Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd’s regularisation plan, opening the way for its exit from the local stock market.
The 2014 oil price rout had claimed many O&G-related companies, with Perisai being the latest victim.
Investors dumped Perisai’s shares following the announcement, pushing the share price to 0.5 sen, or 83.33%, erasing RM31.53 million in market capitalisation in yesterday’s trade alone. The company is now valued about RM6.3 million.
Perisai’s shares will be suspended with effect from Jan 22, 2019, and it will be de-listed on Feb 13, 2019, unless an appeal against the rejection of the regularisation plan and delisting is submitted to Bursa Malaysia on, or before Feb 10, 2019.
As part of the proposed regularisation plan, Perisai is relying on its existing two core business segments, the offshore drilling and offshore production (operating the offshore drilling rig PP101), as well as the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO), Perisai Kamelia, to turn-around the company’s financial woes.
However, Bursa Malaysia said the Perisai Kamelia, owned by Perisai’s subsidiary Emas Victoria (L) Bhd, has not been chartered since the end of May 2017, while the charter for the PP101 rig, owned by Perisai’s subsidiary Perisai Pacific 101 (L) Inc, is due to expire in May 2019.
The viability and sustainability of Perisai’s core businesses are dependent upon the ability of the company to continue to charter both the FPSO and PP101 rig at viable rates.
“As the historical charter rates of these assets have been on a decline, the FPSO has not been chartered and thus the charter rate and period, as well as the extension of the charter for PP101 rig have not been determined and/or are uncertain, the company and the principal adviser have not satisfactorily addressed Bursa Malaysia’s concerns on the viability and sustainability of the core business of the company,” Perisai said in a statement to the exchange.
In addition, the lenders of Emas Victoria have a right to require the disposal of the FPSO in the event the asset is not chartered by Dec 31, 2018.
The lenders of Perisai Pacific also have a right to require the company to dispose of the PP101 rig in the event the PP101 rig is not chartered for a continuous period of 12 months.
“As the assets are currently not chartered, or the existing PP101 rig charter will expire in May 2019, there are concerns/uncertainties on the ability of the Perisai group to maintain and retain its core assets and continue to have a viable business in the event the assets are disposed of,” it added.
Perisai is the first O&G company to be de-listed this year.
Last year, special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Sona Petroleum Bhd was officially de-listed after failing to secure a qualifying acquisition within the three-year deadline from its July 30, 2013, listing date.
This was in spite of the would-be O&G company rai-sing some RM550 million from its initial public offering to acquire an income-generating asset.
Another O&G-based SPAC, Cliq Energy Bhd, is set to pay the RM6.12 million held in its cash trust account to shareholders at the end of the month before de-listing after similarly failing to complete its qualifying acquisition.
Meanwhile, O&G company Bumi Armada Bhd is also undergoing a debt restructuring scheme
