THHE down but not out, firm to be restructured, relaunched

By ZAIDI ISHAM ISMAIL
[email protected]

KUALA LUMPUR Dec 6 - TH Heavy Engineering Bhd (THHE) was established by its parent Lembaga Tabung Haji to ride on the booming crude oil prices.

However, after years of struggling to stay afloat, the company now stares at the prospect of being delisted on December 9 or just three days away.

Bursa Malaysia had served the financially distressed company notice last July that it must present its restructuring plan by October.

It is now December and still there is no turnaround plan from the Practice Note 17 company.

If it fails to do present to Bursa its turnaround plan anytime soon or no white knight in shining armour gallops in to rescue the firm, the regulator will have no choice but suspend its shares this Thursday and subsequently delist the oil and gas fabricator by next Monday.

It will be sad day indeed for the company which tried its best to remain relevant among its oil and gas peers.

Somewhere somehow, it did not work out well for THHE which had to compete neck and neck with the likes of Sime Engineering and Serba Dinamik Holdings Berhad.

In 2005, the concern was established to capitalise on the robust crude oil prices which at the time hovered above the US$100 per barrel mark.

Unfortunately, the firm did not do well amid the competitive business landscape and became a PN17 firm in 2017.

However, it might not be the death knell for the previously Tabung Haji owned company.

The company could continue to operate as a Sendirian Berhad.

But by being delisted, THHE cannot tap funds from investors at the bourse.

Meanwhile, a Tabung Haji source said the delisting is a blessing for the beleaguered company and is a  precursor for better things to come.

The Finance Ministry had announced that THHE along with other troubled firms under the Tabung Haji group of companies will be parked under its wing.

The Finance Ministry had set up a special purpose vehicle called Urus Harta Jemaah Sdn Bhd to turn around financially troubled firms under Tabung Haji such as THHE.

"The SPV will take a second look at THHE and see where it went wrong, restructure and relaunch THHE went it is ready," the Tabung Haji official told DagangNews.com.

He said it is unfortunate that THHE will soon be delisted but the government will not be taking this matter lying down.

Plans are afoot to relaunch THHE once Urus Harta Jamaah and MOF officials iron out the next game plan.

The source added the government will do all it can to revive THHE as it is a firm which can earn good dividends at a time when oil prices are soaring.

In the 2000s, everybody was excited with the establishment of THHE by Tabung Haji to earn an income for its depositors.

Why not? Everybody were doing including the Dialog Group, Alam Maritim, Sapura Group and Barakah Offshore to name a few.

THHE did not want to be left behind and joined the bandwagon.

But as a former Tabung Haji company, the government is dutibound to resuscitate the company and relaunch.

Perhaps one day, THHE will be flying high once again and return into the arms of TH and able to do what is was originally  tasked - which is to give returns to the depositors comprising the haj pilgrims. - DagangNews.com