New Straits Times Online - Reach Energy Buys Kazakhstan Assets For Long Term Potential

KUALA LUMPUR: Reach Energy Bhd says it is buying a good asset in Kazakhstan and asks its investors to see the long-term value of the asset.

The special purpose acquisition company is finalising the submission of its maiden qualifying asset (QA), involving onshore oil and gas-producing fields in Kazakhstan three times the size of Penang, to the Securities Commission.

“We have obtained a good QA for investors. This is where we emphasise to shareholders that there is a lot of gain to this acquisition and to look on the longer term basis,” managing director Shahul Hamid Mohd Ismail said.

Shahul said Reach would submit the proposal to the SC early next month, with the decision likely being known by end-July.

The company’s goal is to complete the QA soonest possible and thereon move towards enhancing shareholders’ value by leveraging on the technical expertise, commercial know how, network and experience of its management team, staff and board of directors.

On whether institutional investors like Tabung Haji and Credit Suisse, which have increased their shareholding in Reach, could be a stumbling block to complete the QA, Shahul said: “I don't want to think of any investor as being a stumbling block. I want to think of every investor coming into Reach by seeing its values.

“Particularly for big investors like them, I hope that they will look it that way because the money that they invest is quite small compared to their kind of financial capability,” he told reporters after Reach’s annual general meeting yesterday.

“But at end of the day it’s up to them (investors). We can only do our bit to convince them (on what we have),” he added.

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