(Bloomberg) — OMS Group Sdn., a Malaysia-based company that installs cable underwater, is weighing a listing in Kuala Lumpur as soon as next year that could raise as much as $300 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The company is working with financial advisers on the planned first-time share sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the process is private.
It is seeking a valuation of over $1 billion based on strong earnings growth and increased spending among telecommunications operators on digital infrastructure, the people said.
OMS had asked banks to submit proposals for the potential first-time share sale and was considering venues including Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore for a listing, Bloomberg News reported in October.
Should the offering take place, it would give a boost to first-time share sales in the Southeast Asian nation.
At $300 million, the initial public offering would be Malaysia’s biggest in over a year, after Mr D.I.Y. Group Bhd.’s $363 million listing in October 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Deliberations are ongoing and the size as well as timing of the IPO could still change, the people said.
OMS is exploring an IPO in the region, a company representative said in a statement responding to a query from Bloomberg News.
Following the company’s recent private funding rounds, there has been continued interest from investors, according to the statement.
Sub-Sea Spending
Technology and telecom firms are spending on ambitious undersea projects in Asia as increasing digitalization in the region sparks demand for infrastructure.
Last year Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. joined a new sub-sea cable system for 2024 dubbed Apricot, linking Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines and Indonesia. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.
will build a 10,000 kilometre cable linking Japan to California, the company announced earlier this month.
OMS Group, with offices in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, has done sub-sea cable installation and maintenance projects for the past three decades, including the Papua New Guinea National Submarine Fiber Cable Network and the South-East Japan Asia Japan Cable System 2, according to its website.
The company’s fleet includes Cable Vigilance, a 5,448 gross tonnage cable-laying and repair ship, which launched on Tuesday in Dunkirk, France, according to a LinkedIn post.
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