Petronas’ two major units to list their shares soon

Submitted by Rajinder Gill on Sat, 04/10/2010 - 13:42

Petrochemical and engineering units of Petronas, Malaysia's national oil company will soon sell its shares to public to shrink the government's stake in industry and boost economic growth.

Company stated that, the petrochemicals business and Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering will seek their own stock market listings, which would add four Petronas subsidiaries already traded on the exchange.

However no details have been revealed yet by Petronas regarding the number of shares and the price at which shares are offered to public.

Majority of stake has been retained by Petronas in its four other subsidiaries which are publicly traded.

Revenue of petrochemical business on 31 March of last year was RM13 billion ($5.7 billion) and revenue of Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering was more than RM4 billion.

Petrochemical business includes Asia's biggest methanol plant having capacity of 1.7 million tons.

Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering are concerned with engineering and construction services, marine conversion and marine repair.

According to Petronas’s President and Chief Executive, Shamsul Azhar Abbas, “These two new listings will allow the investing public to participate directly in some of Petronas businesses.”