As at noon, 25 July 2011...
This is the first SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) to be listed on Bursa Malaysia, a new phenomenon for us. To many its something out of this world. I believe its a unique opportunity for small timers to have a share in the exploration and production of small oil and gas fields available in this side of the world, in Malaysian shores included... and perhaps in the Spratly's Islands?.
Think of Hibiscus Petroleum having say, a 15-20% stake, of the Kikeh oil field discovery...off the coast of Sabah ~ what a gold mine it might have been? And earlier on, in 1983-85, when I was studying in Down Under, I did invest a bit in Offshore Oil NL - then having a small stake in the Jabiru Oil discovery between Northern Territory and Timor. With just a bit of oil find news triggered the share to move up from a mere 7 cents to 17 cents! Not bad for a small timer studying at ANU then. The point I am trying to make is this, if only such an opportunity exist on Bursa Malaysia wouldn't small timers have a chance to earn something akin to the JRs of TV soap opera "Dallas", albeit just a bit?
How can small timers ever have a chance to invest in Petronas, even if its listed on Bursa? I have voiced my opinion for such a possibility in some of my articles in The EDGE Malaysia. Yes, why can't the Government float a certain portion of Petronas shares - just like what the Brasilian Government did for Petrobras? And yes, see what happens to the Brasilian economy of today?
I would dearly love to see that happening in due course, but for the time being what irks me was the way the IPO for Hibiscus Petroleum is being processed! Internet checks on the balloting of shares can only be confirmed today online at Equiniti's website.... and the public listing is today! How can we, small timers, sell our shares if by today we are not sure whether our applications are successful or not? Definitely no results of such came through the mail (physical mail) at the time of blogging! Aren't we short changed by this 'glitch'? I would wish to sell the warrant component first given the chance... but how could I when there's no official news of the IPO's notice of allotment?
Bursa Malaysia regulators... in you we trust! Is it that today's trading is just for the institutional blocks? Why I suspect that is the fact that the retail portion of the IPO is no where to be seen, at least I haven't received mine even by noon today (an earlier check from Bursa Malaysia's website indicated that the Bumi portion was 100% fully subscribed)!.
As it turns out, trading was a muted affair for the debut today ~ Hibiscus (down 10 sen) but Hibiscus-WA was up 1 sen! There goes the chance to trade the warrants first!
No comments:
Post a Comment