This is forcing some companies in the sector to venture abroad.
CEO Vaidyanthan Nateshan, whose company De Raj Group AG just got the requisite approvals for a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany, said he was forced to take his company to Europe as bankers refused to provide the necessary support.
“We have bankers telling us they won’t touch oil and gas companies with a barge pole. So, I’m taking the company to Europe.
“It’s not the equity market that is tough, it’s the debt market. We are well capitalised and need financing for executing projects.
“The Malaysian debt market is dead … asset cover here is 2.5 to 3 times while in Europe, it is 0.8 times,” the business weekly quoted Vaidyanthan as saying.
Uzma Bhd CEO and managing director Kamarul Redzuan Muhamad also said O&G companies seem to have more difficulties securing financing nowadays than when oil prices were trading at above US$100 (RM408) per barrel.
“This could be because there is no indication of where the industry is going,” he said.
O&G sources told The Edge that the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the Prime Minister’s Department, the Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation (MPRC) and Petronas were looking to assist local players with their banking requirements.
The EPU comes under Abdul Rahman Dahlan, minister in the Prime Minister’s Department. The MPRC is an industry development agency, under the same department.
A source told the weekly that the requisite data would be available with the MPRC 100, which is a ranking of the top publicly traded and privately held O&G services and equipment companies.
The MPRC 100 is released either at the end of the year or in March.
“With the release of the MPRC 100, the data on how well or badly the companies are doing will be available. From what we know, it’s pretty bad … then, they (MPRC, EPU and Petronas) can act on it,” an industry player told the weekly.
The views expressed in the contents are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of FMT.
lagi info di : Gosip Artis Terkini