Serendib Capital emerges as ‘white knight’ for Sarawak Cable

KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak Cable Bhd has announced that Serendib Capital Ltd has emerged as a “white knight” for the company, having submitted its interest in performing a resuscitation exercise at the PN17 Main Market-listed manufacturing company on Dec 5, 2023.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the company said Serendib Capital is an experienced United Kingdom-based investor with over two decades of experience in advisory and financial asset restructuring in South Asia.

It said Serendib Capital’s track record encompasses several high-profile regional deals, the most notable of which was the restructuring and rescue of Lanka Bangla Finance PLC, netting investors over 50 times the invested capital.

“This will be Serendib Capital’s first significant Malaysian deal, and it has prepared a RM250 million war chest to be used to restructure and pay down outstanding creditors, as well as for an injection of capital into the company to cater to the growing customer demand for infrastructure grid development and high voltage cables,” it said.

Serendib Capital sees the growing emphasis on the national development of Malaysia’s electrical infrastructure as an attractive proposition for Sarawak Cable.

The increased electrification of transport, Asean grid connectivity, the mushrooming of power-hungry data centres and the demand for electric vehicles are all key drivers for growth in the near future.

“We see this partnership as an extremely positive development in the path to restructuring our financial commitments at Sarawak Cable, and we look forward to leveraging the financial firepower and turnaround expertise of Serendib Capital so that we can focus on aggressively delivering on our RM900 million order book,” said Sarawak Cable group chief executive officer Russell Boyd.

Meanwhile, Serendib Capital advisor and Sarawak Cable non-independent non-executive director Takeo Hirata said it is committed to partnering and investing with Sarawak Cable, the largest power cable manufacturer in Malaysia and leading manufacturer regionally.

He said the quality of Sarawak Cable’s customer base and manufacturing capabilities are second to none.

“We eagerly anticipate cleaning up whatever lingering legacy issues still remain and restoring and surpassing Sarawak Cable as compared to its former glories, as we build this business into a regional powerhouse,” said Hirata. – BK