Malaysia’s Ekuinas wants Icon Offshore to list by 2014
Ekuinas, the Malaysia sovereign wealth fund, plans to list its oil and gas services unit, Icon Offshore, within three years. Abdul Rahman Ahmad, the Icon’s CEO, said the company was already eligible for an IPO but they want to wait until earnings justify a sufficient valuation. The earnings level he suggested was MYR1 billion ($326 million).
Icon is Malaysia's third-largest offshore support vessel operator, with MYR1.2 billion in assets and a fleet of 28 vessels. It was formed through the merger of two Ekuinas-owned units, Tanjung Kappal Services (TKS) and ONMI Petromaritime.
Ekuinas completed a MYR220.9 million buyout of OMNI Petromaritime last month, paying MYR150.9 million for an 82.5% stake and injecting MYR70 million of additional capital to pay down debt and support expansion plans. OMNI Petromaritime has 12 owned and managed vessels and its clients include Petronas, Saudi Aramco, Maersk Oil Qatar and Petrovietnam.
Earlier this year, Ekuinas bought the 76% of TKS - Tanjung Offshore's marine vessel services arm - that it didn't already own for MYR220 million. The company operates 16 offshore vessels and has two platform supply vessels currently on order.
The offshore support vessel industry is expected to grow rapidly, with Malaysia announcing plans to spend MYR300 billion on exploration and production between 2011 and 2015. However, the industry is highly fragmented, with 70% of participants owning fewer than 10 vessels each.
Icon now commands a 13% market share - only Bumi Armada and Alam Maritim Resources, with 43 and 33 vessels, respectively, are larger.
Another regional shipping services provider, Singapore-headquartered Miclyn Express Offshore (MEO), has also attracted interest from private equity investors. Last month CHAMP Private Equity acquired a 33.2% stake in business for A$199 million ($206 million), following Headland Capital Partners, which paid $141 million for 26.4% of MEO last September.
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