This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 5, 2024 - February 11, 2024

Last Tuesday (Jan 30), Handal Energy Bhd clarified that in an earlier announcement to Bursa Malaysia, it had unintentionally named Pelaburan Mara Bhd when it meant to state “investors interested in the joint venture (JV)” in relation to a JV agreement between Handal Energy’s wholly-owned subsidiary Handal Floaters Sdn Bhd (HFLSB) and Hadid Oil and Gas LLP (HOGL). The pact revolves around the companies’ participation in an early oil production field development programme in Kazakhstan.

According to the Jan 18 announcement, one of the conditions precedent was Pelaburan Mara subscribing for the redeemable non-convertible preference shares (RNCPS) issued by HFLSB at an issue price to be determined later based on an issue size of US$5 million.

However, on Jan 29, Pelaburan Mara, which is wholly-owned by Mara Corp Sdn Bhd, came out to say that it had yet to receive any proposal from Handal Energy with regard to the investment in the RNCPS and that no evaluation and confirmation had been made. Pelaburan Mara also requested that Handal Energy clarify the matter with all the relevant parties to prevent any further misunderstanding.

Still, Handal Energy’s clarification came 12 days after the first announcement was made on Jan 18. During that time, the share price of Handal Energy rose 22% from 9 sen on Jan 18 to hit a high of 11 sen on Jan 23, before closing at 9.5 sen last Thursday.

Handal Energy clarified that it was still in discussion with various potential investment parties on utilising the investment platform of Pelaburan Mara for their investments, and that those discussions were not conclusive.

Still, public-listed companies should be more cautious about making announcements when talks have not been concluded, or at the very least, they should be faster in issuing a clarification.

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