KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 24): Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd has ceased to be a substantial shareholder in Icon Offshore Bhd.

In a bourse filing today, Icon Offshore disclosed that Urusharta Jamaah had disposed of 972,225 shares in the offshore support vessel (OSV) player yesterday, thus ceasing to be a substantial shareholder.

The disposal of the stake is notable given that Icon Offshore's share price, which closed at 81.5 sen today, has skyrocketed since Jan 21's 10 sen.

Furthermore, the group had completed a share consolidation exercise yesterday — which saw every 50 shares held consolidated into one share.

Urusharta Jamaah is a special-purpose vehicle set up by the government to manage Lembaga Tabung Haji's underperforming assets.

According to its annual report for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2018 (FY18), as of March 29, 2019, Urusharta Jamaah held an 8.8% stake in Icon Offshore and was the second-largest shareholder after Yayasan Ekuiti Nasional's vehicle Hallmark Odyssey Sdn Bhd, which controls a 42.28% stake.

The beleaguered OSV player is to raise RM250 million via a cash call to reduce its debt and gearing. At its extraordinary general meeting on Nov 26, 2019, shareholders — including Urusharta Jamaah — agreed to the plan.

The plan includes the share consolidation exercise. A rights issue of 175 shares for every consolidated share will also be executed.

The rights shares will come with free eight-year warrants on the basis of one warrant for every four rights shares.

The rights issue alongside plans to restructure RM577.16 million of its debts is expected to reduce Icon Offshore's gearing to under 1.4 times, from 9.16 times.

The exercise is expected to be completed by February of this year.

Icon shares closed up 21.64% or 14.5 sen at 81.5 sen, valuing the group at RM1.94 billion.