Muhibbah ... Jul12

The secured creditors of APHB, whose rights to develop a petroleum hub on an island of Johor are up for grabs, are seeking a 30 year tax break in a bid to make the project commercially viable. The parties said to be interested in APH include Swiss group Mercuria Energy Group Ltd, Petrofac and Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar of PTP.

The worst-case scenario for Muhibbah Engineering Bhd, should it not be paid the RM399.5mil owed to it by Asia Petroleum Hub Sdn Bhd (APH), is that it would simply be a provision for bad debt in its books.

Should no new restructuring scheme or white knight come in between now and the end of the year (2012), it is likely that Muhibbah's auditors will call for a provision for these bad debts.

Even then, the provision will not be for the full amount, as after adjustments made in previous years, the estimated amount should be reduced to about RM245mil.

Assuming the company decides to make a one-off provision for its fourth quarter results to Dec 31, 2012, the company can move on after that and start on a fresh slate come the start of 2013. Assuming Muhibbah took a RM200mil hit to the profit and loss statement, the potential accounting net loss for its financial year (FY) ended Dec 31, 2012 would be RM135mil.

On a more positive note, the company would move forward. Its banks had continued to support it, and all its credit lines were in place. Muhibbah currently has some RM3.1bil worth of jobs that will keep it busy over the next two years.

Muhibbah has already filed a lawsuit against APH and the project's managing contractor ZAQ Sdn Bhd to recover RM381mil owed to Muhibbah. The suit is still pending.

Reports have indicated that APH's receiver and manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is set to call for a tender to bring in new shareholders to rescue the project.

The company has RM309.3mil cash as of the period.

Meanwhile Singapore-based OCBC Bank has ceased to be a substantial shareholder in Muhibbah Engineering Bhd after disposing of 9.18 million shares in the latter. The bank had a 5.46% stake of 22 million shares in the company as at June 26 2012.