Eckem Holdings Bhd began its trading debut on Bursa Malaysia’s ACE Market unchanged at its initial public offering (IPO) price of 12 sen this morning, following an IPO that was oversubscribed by more than eight times.
As of 9.01am, the stock traded at 12 sen, matching its offer price, after opening at the same level. The counter touched an intraday high of 12.5 sen before easing back to 12 sen. About 19.16 million shares had changed hands.
The specialty industrial chemical solutions provider raised RM15 million through its IPO, which comprised 125 million new shares priced at 12 sen each. The listing also included an offer for sale of 62.5 million existing shares, representing 10% of its enlarged share capital.
Investor interest was robust ahead of the listing. The public portion of the IPO was oversubscribed by 8.09 times, attracting 5,152 applications for more than 284 million shares. The Bumiputera portion was oversubscribed by 4.24 times, while the other Malaysian public portion recorded an oversubscription rate of 11.94 times.
Executive Director Jack Tan previously said the proceeds would be channelled towards strengthening the group’s operational capabilities, with RM6 million allocated for a new integrated corporate office, warehouse and laboratory, RM2 million for a new rubber products production line, RM1.45 million for bank borrowings repayment, RM1.75 million for working capital and RM3.8 million to cover listing expenses.
Speaking exclusively to BusinessToday ahead of the listing, Tan said the group’s priority after going public is execution rather than aggressive expansion.
“We intend to support our continued growth by investing in infrastructure that strengthens our operational capabilities and enhances our ability to serve customers more effectively,” he said.
Read the full exclusive interview article here:
The new integrated facility will consolidate operations currently spread across several locations into a purpose-built premises with significantly larger warehouse capacity. The project also includes a dedicated laboratory to strengthen product testing, formulation development and sample storage.
According to Tan, the laboratory will improve Eckem’s application formulation capabilities, enabling the group to customise specialised industrial chemical solutions more efficiently while responding faster to customers’ evolving requirements.
The company is also investing in a new rubber products production line that is expected to double annual manufacturing capacity from 134 metric tonnes to 268 metric tonnes. The expansion will support growing demand for products such as dental dams, latex sheets, prophylactic oral dams and exercise bands while improving production flexibility.
Rather than focusing on short-term financial targets, Tan said investors should monitor the successful completion of the new integrated facility, commissioning of the production line, customer base expansion and growth in overseas sales as indicators of the company’s long-term strategy.
Eckem supplies around 310 speciality industrial chemical products sourced from international principals and serves downstream industrial users, compounders and resellers. Around 94% of its revenue currently comes from Malaysia, although it also has a presence in markets including China, Singapore, the UK and the US.
