Funding not seen as issue for Yong Tai's RM7b Malacca project

PETALING JAYA: PublicInvest Research, which has initiated coverage on Yong Tai Bhd with an “outperform” call and a target price of RM2.25, does not foresee any funding issue for its RM7 billion Impression City project.
The integrated mixed development project consists of a food and beverage cluster, an airport-designed type shopping mall and the Impression Melaka theatre, surrounded by serviced residences, hotels, office towers, exhibition/film studios and retail shops.
PublicInvest Research said while the Impression City development will have a seemingly daunting estimated gross development cost of RM5.5 billion, it does not foresee funding issues given that the launches will be fairly well spread out over the next seven years at about RM1 billion a year till 2023, based on the current plan.
“We believe the entire development is highly bankable, and should have no issues on bridging facilities or even gearing up,” it said in a research note yesterday.
Yong Tai has just recently raised another RM54.2 million through a placement of 43 million shares at RM1.26 apiece, highlighting the strong appetite for its shares.
Impression Melaka is an extension of the highly successful and highly acclaimed Impression franchise series which has, to-date, only been shown in China.
PublicInvest Research estimates the Impression Melaka concession to be worth a conservative RM1.15 per share on a fully-diluted discounted cash flow basis.
Developed on a 121-acre 99-year leasehold site facing the Straits of Malacca, the Impression City is to create a rich lifestyle-based ecosystem surrounding Impression Melaka, a move aimed at bringing fresh vibrancy to the area and the state as a whole.
Yong Tai currently sits on a solid cash pile of RM236.2 million with very negligible borrowings (RM7.8 million overdraft) partly as a result of the fundraising exercise it undertook in 2016 for the Impression Melaka development.
PublicInvest Research said Yong Tai’s healthy unbilled sales of RM1.1 billion are underpinned by two major transactions – an RM873 million en-bloc sale of 262 retail units in Plot 1A of Impression City to Orient Venture Properties and the fully sold RM267 million Amber Cove project in Plot 5. With that, the group’s earnings visibility is secured for the next two years at the very least.
Yong Tai shares rose one sen to close at RM1.38 yesterday on 550,600 shares done.