Astro earmarks bulk of IPO proceeds for capex
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 — Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, a pay-TV firm owned by the country’s second-richest man Ananda Krishnan, said today it had earmarked 58 per cent of the proceeds raised in its forthcoming listing for capital expenditure.
The flotation, which is expected to raise up to US$1.5 billion (RM4.5 billion), will be Malaysia’s third-largest this year after Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd in June and IHH Healthcare Bhd in July.
Astro didn’t disclose how much it expected to raise in total.
Beyond the 58 per cent allocated to capital expenditure it said 29.3 per cent would be used to repay bank borrowings, 8.6 per cent for working capital and the rest for listing expenses, a draft prospectus filed today showed.
Astro, with a residential pay-TV subscriber base of three million in Malaysia, made a pro forma net profit of RM629.62 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012, a 23.9 per cent drop from a year earlier, the prospectus showed. Revenue rose 6.1 per cent.
It said it had hired CIMB as the transaction manager for the listing. Joint principal advisers are CIMB, Maybank and RHB. — Reuters
