KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp) saw its share price rise by as much as 11.45% or 3.5 sen to an intraday high of 34 sen on Tuesday (July 18), the highest since Jan 30 when the stock closed at 34.5 sen.

The stock finished up 1.64% or half a sen to 31 sen, the highest since March 7 when it closed at 32 sen, after selling its waste management business Berjaya Enviro Holdings Sdn Bhd (BEnviro) to Naza Corp Holdings Sdn Bhd for RM700 million cash.

The counter was higher than its last closing price of 30.5 sen on Monday (July 17), valuing the company at RM1.82 billion.

Year-to-date, BCorp's share price had risen by 3.3%, while over the past 12 months, it had increased by 26.53%, according to Bloomberg data.

Meanwhile, the counter saw 11.57 million shares traded, surpassing its 200-day average volume of 7.83 million shares.

On Monday, BCorp's subsidiary Berjaya Group Bhd signed a share sale agreement with Naza Corp to dispose of a 100% stake in BEnviro, which is expected to be completed by February 2024.

The proposed disposal is expected to see BCorp lock in RM490.74 million, which it has already allocated towards paring down its debt.

“The RM700 million price tag is based on a valuation of forward 18.4 times price-earning ratio (PE) on the back of an estimated three-year profit guarantee of RM38 million per annum and price-to-book value of 3.6 times.

“In Berjaya’s perspective, it’s quite a good valuation. It was done by our valuer, they came out with a valuation of close to RM600 million-RM700 million. It’s [on] a willing buyer willing seller [basis],” BCorp joint chief executive officer Vivienne Cheng told reporters after the signing ceremony on Monday.

In June, Berjaya Group founder and adviser Tan Sri Vincent Tan raised his indirect interest via direct business transaction to 539.06 million or 9.65% in the company. He had acquired 17 million shares on June 27 for 30 sen apiece, which works out to RM5.1 million for the entire block of shares, and a further 2.8 million shares on June 27 at 30 sen each, for a total consideration of RM840,000.

Read more:
BCorp sells waste management unit to Naza for RM700m cash