KUALA LUMPUR (July 7): Rubber processor producer and trader Seng Fong Holdings Bhd makes a flat debut at 75 sen on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market on Thursday morning (July 7) with 10.82 million units traded.

Managing director Er Hock Lai said the group expects to raise RM68.1 million from its initial public offering to part-finance the expansion of its annual production capacity by 17% to 166,000 tonnes by 2023 from 142,000 tonnes currently.

Of the total proceeds, he said, RM19.7 million would be utilised for working capital, RM37.9 million for repayment of bank borrowings, RM6.3 million for biomass system installation and the remaining RM4.2 million for listing expenses.

“We are now concentrating on solar and biomass system commissioning as our main environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives. 

“After completing these two initiatives, we will study other possibilities that can help to contribute to our ESG initiatives,” he said during a virtual press conference after the listing ceremony on Thursday.

Er said with the new biomass system in place, Seng Fong is looking at cost savings of about RM3.5 million per annum.

“Based on the current diesel price, we believe that the savings will be more than that at about 51% of our diesel cost per annum.

“This is part of our renewable energy [initiative] as we use woodchips and wood dust to generate energy for our system instead of using diesel,” he said.

On the rubber industry outlook, Er anticipated the recovery in the global economy post-pandemic would help boost sales for automotive parts and tyres, which would push up demand for rubber.