Perwaja Holdings Bhd ... July 2008

Perwaja Holdings Bhd expects to fully settle its outstanding debts of RM250mil within five years. The group had signed an agreement with the Finance Ministry to make scheduled instalments for the remaining debts starting early this year (2008).

Perwaja was saddled with about RM800mil debts when Kinsteel Bhd bought 51% stake in Perwaja Steel Sdn Bhd and its Gurun assets from Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd in 2005.

The turnaround in Perwaja is now (July 2008) progressing well with gearing ratio at about 0.6 to 0.7, which is among the lowest in the local steel milling industry.