Stock-listed industrial-park operator Phnom Penh SEZ Plc (PPSP) will acquire the remaining 40 per cent of construction company Sahas E&C Co Ltd’s (Sahas) shares from its joint venture (JV) partner LCH for $1,172,514.82 after approval from the Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia (SERC) on March 18.
In a filing to the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) on March 22, PPSP said: “[Sahas] is primarily engage[d] in all [areas of] construction and building works including but not limited to engineering, design, procurement, project management and maintenance.”
PPSP said the appointed auditor Baker Tilly had calculated the final price for the acquisition, to be paid in two tranches – $500,000 on March 18 and $672,514.82 before April 14.
CEO Hiroshi Uematsu said PPSP established Sahas in 2017 to “get projects from outside Phnom Penh SEZ, as well as inside our zone”, referring to the 357.3ha Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) in the western part of the capital.
“Sahas has been accumulating [the] know-how of construction, especially for road[s], water system[s] and factory building through PPSEZ’s development.
“We thought that we could expand our service outside the zone in order to meet the needs of industrial sector.
“By doing so, we can increase recurring income from Sahas. We appointed Rithy Loeung, a Cambodian engineer as general manager of the company in order to localise our group’s operation,” he added.
CSX vice-chairman Ha Jong-weon said the acquisition indicated PPSP’s determination to expand and would solidify the business in the long and short term, stressing that this marks a positive development for the company as a whole.
Noting that PPSP described Sahas as “profitable” in the CSX filing, Ha said: “Acquiring [a] profitable company under their [wings] is nothing but great news for the investors.
“The company will expect more profits [as a] result, [and] more dividends as well. So in my opinion, [PPSP’s share] price [on CSX is] likely [to] increase.
“During the past week, [its stock market performance] has been outstanding. [Its] price steadily increase[d] and was the most traded shares among all the listed compan[ies]. With such news, we expect that this trend will continue,” Ha said.
