KUALA LUMPUR: ACE Market-bound Betamek Bhd’s public portion of its initial public offering (IPO) has been oversubscribed by 17.06 times.

The electronic manufacturing services (EMS), in a statement, said a total of 6,682 applications seeking 406.31 million new ordinary shares were received for the 22.5 million shares made available for application by the Malaysian Public.

The Bumiputera portion was oversubscribed by 9.49 times, with 3,032 applications for 117.97 million shares received.

For the public portion, a total of 3,650 applications for 288.33 million shares were received, representing an oversubscription rate of 24.63 times.

Meanwhile, the 13.5 million shares for its eligible directors, employees and persons who have contributed to the success of Betamek Group have also been fully subscribed.

In addition, its placement agent has confirmed that 76.5 million shares made available for application by way of private placement to selected investors have been fully placed out.

Managing director Mirzan Mahathir said the oversubscription of the company’s IPO indicates the public’s confidence in its over 30 years of track record in the automotive EMS industry in Malaysia.

“This is an encouraging sign as we embark on our next stage of growth as a public-listed company. We believe that our prospects in the automotive EMS industry are favourable, taking into account the recovery and long-term growth of the automotive industry, the sales target of our customer, our competitive strengths and our business strategies,” he said.

Under the listing exercise, Betamek is expected to raise RM33.75mil from its public issue of 67.5 million shares at an issue price of 50 sen per share.

The listing also includes an offer for sale of 45 million existing shares to selected investors by way of private placement.

Based on the enlarged share capital of 450 million shares, the total market capitalisation of Betamek upon its listing would be RM225mil.

Betamek is expected to be listed on Oct 26.

M & A Securities Sdn Bhd is the adviser, sponsor, underwriter and placement agent for the IPO exercise.