Zantat makes impressive debut on ACE Market with 15 sen premium
LUMPUR: Zantat Holdings Bhd, a high-grade calcium carbonate powder producer, made an impressive debut on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia yesterday at 40 sen, notching a 15 sen premium over its initial public offering (IPO) price of 25 sen a share.
At the opening bell, the counter saw 5.96 million shares changing hands.
Managing director Ivan Chan said the IPO proceeds will be utilised for the company’s expansion plans including purchasing research and development (R&D) equipment, upgrading the infrastructure of the Calroc plant in Perak, and investing in high-efficiency components.
“Most of those plans will begin as early as next month, and we expect to complete all these expansions by the end of 2025,” he told a press conference after the listing ceremony, here.
Zantat raised RM14 million from its IPO exercise to partly fund its venture into the bioplastics value chain and for the expansion of its core business of calcium carbonate production.
Of the proceeds, RM3.8 million will be used to upgrade its R&D facilities, focusing on bioplastic compounding and calcium carbonate.
It also plans to invest RM1.4 million in high-efficiency machine components and facilitate industrial automation, and another RM1.0 million to upgrade a major calcium carbonate production plant.
Chan said the company’s products are mainly sold to countries in the Asia-Pacific region, with India being the largest market followed by Malaysia.
“Indian customers are generally in the plastic industry.
So India accounts for 60 per cent of our total revenue, followed by Malaysia at 30 per cent,” he added.
The company also plans to develop three new bioplastic compounds, namely for stretch film (packaging), mulch film (plastics along soil for crop production), and marinedegradable film.
Several customers from Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and Singapore have already been identified, he said.
“We intend to sell our bioplastic compounds to plastic packaging manufacturers to produce bioplastic packaging products, bioplastic compound manufacturers intending to engage a contract manufacturer to develop and manufacture bioplastic compounds, and trading companies that intend to resell our bioplastic compounds to their customers.
“We are also working with strategic partners that produce compostable garbage bags to tap into markets like South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand,” he said, adding that the export plan to the three countries is expected to start this year. — Bernama