Multi-Purpose seeks alliances to grow its gaming & insurance units

MULTI-PURPOSE Holdings Bhd (MPHB) (3859) is looking to form strategic alliances with local and foreign parties to grow its gaming and insurance units and list them here in about three years.
Its director T. Vijeyaratnam said the group is talking to several parties within the gaming and insurance industries, but declined to name them.

MPHB has a 51 per cent stake in Magnum Corp Sdn Bhd, which owns 485 gaming outlets nationwide.

It also owns 100 per cent of Multi-Purpose Insurans Bhd, which has grown from a revenue of RM60 million in 2002 to RM415 million last year.

"The two companies have grown to a level where a listing is possible. The listing is not to raise cash but to offer both institutional and retail investors an opportunity to make money from stocks.

"We believe the investing public is ready for another gaming counter. We do see demand in the market. But any plan to list Magnum will depend on the exit strategy of our partner," he said.

Magnum is 47 per cent-held by CVC Capital Partners, a global private equity firm.

"Gaming is our main core business, contributing 80 per cent to group revenue. Thus, we will maintain our share percentage, if not increase it upon the listing," Vijeyaratnam said.

Magnum chief executive officer Lawrence Lim Swee Lin said the company plans to grow its gaming business but ruled out more outlets.

"The growth for us will depend on how strong the force is on illegal operators. That is why we introduced the 4D jackpot game last September, which illegals cannot enter," he said.

Magnum, set up in 1968, is the largest four-digit (4D) gaming operator in Malaysia. It was the first private company to get a licence to promote, operate and manage 4D numbers forecast betting in Malaysia.

It reported a revenue of RM3 billion last year.

Meanwhile, Vijeyaratnam said the group's treasury management business is improving and is looking at long-term investments that can give good gestation with initial public offering potentials.

MPHB has a 7 per cent stake in mobile operator U Mobile Sdn Bhd, controlled by Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun, which may list in three years, he said.

It also holds a 40 per cent stake in a 20ha land in the Phillippines, and a 8 per cent share in a shipbuilding company in China.

"The shipbuilding company is also going for listing in Hong Kong or China. These are all small investments but we hope over the next five years they will give us extraordinary gains," he said.



By Sharen Kaur