Ekovest's acquisition of land from IWH: My take

What the deal is about.

Ekovest buying 2 blocks of land from IWH which IWH does not own until this deal is done, ironically. Hence, IWH is actually acting as a middleman and in return IWH owns 32% of Ekovest. Lim Kang Hoo will increase his shareholding in Ekovest, backdoor through IWH as he is a larger shareholder of IWH through Credence at 63.13%. Ekovest pays about RM200 million for the land and another RM800 million through issuance of new ICPS (Irredeemable Convertible Preference Shares) to IWH. The ICPS which is convertible to Ekovest’s shares at RM1 will allow IWH to be a 32% shareholder of Ekovest.  This will solidify LKH’s ownership of Ekovest. His shareholding (direct and indirect) will increase from 29.8% to 44.4%.

The land was part of the land in the original exercise which failed, in the proposed IWH-IWCITY merger back in 2017. As below, in that proposed deal, the merged entity is to acquire land from the same companies although not from as many sellers.

The deal has nothing to do with Bandar Malaysia, if any yet. We know that IWH together with CREC was awarded with the contract for Bandar Malaysia but details of the project is yet to be announced. The thing I can see is that IWH is now getting closer to Ekovest. Whether it is good or bad, we do not know. I can see that neither IWCITY or IWH are construction companies. Ekovest is. Bandar Malaysia needs lot of these kind of work as the entire development is RM140 billion in GDV. One will need a master developer and master contractor. LKH is not going to let CREC take all.

For Ekovest’s shareholders, the situation is hard to read as we do not know several things:

1. We do not know much about the deal between IWH and Straits Bay Sdn Bhd and Empomas Holdings Sdn Bhd. Who are the owners? How are the payment made?
2. Does IWH has to pay cash to these guys? Or will IWH pay them in shares or any other ways?
3. Why is IWH acquiring these 2 pieces of land? This looks questionable. Land in Johor will not see much development unless they are strategic to any government's projects in the near future. This I am not able to decipher.

One thing that is happening is that the owners of Ekovest are thinking big. It is growing Ekovest in terms of market value at the expense of dilution to minority shareholders. However, for the shareholders which include me, we know that the group is not staying put at 2 highways and a few plots of good land. The elephant in the room as all have been talking about is the old military airport land and its development.

I believe this is not the last of the deals.