Masterskill shareholders yes to property sales
Published on: Saturday, June 20, 2015
Kuala Lumpur: Masterskill Education Group Bhd (MEGB) shareholders have approved the disposal of two properties in Selangor and Johor to Brilland Property Sdn Bhd, a company controlled by MEGB major shareholder and executive director, Siva Kumar M. Jeyapalan, for RM79.7 million cash."The proceeds would be used to pare down borrowings and fund its business capital in a bid to turn around MEGB's Asia Metropolitan University (AMU)," MEGB executive director, Datuk R. Palan, told reporters after the company's extraordinary general meeting here Friday.Of the RM79.7 million, the group has allocated RM26.7 million to reduce its debts, which is expected to result in interest savings of RM1.4 million per year and RM53 million will be channelled towards operating, administrative and marketing expenses.
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Palan said the group has six more properties – two in Kota Kinabalu and one each in Kota Baharu, Ipoh, Cheras and Kuching – which will be disposed of soon."We are still looking for potential buyers for them, but are not rushing now. We had given ourselves 12 months to turn around AMU," he said. Palan said he was "cautiously optimistic" to turn around MEGB. As in the past, he said he was able to turn around Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences in just a year. "What we need to do is turn around operationally, simply means good programmes, good faculty and good students," he said. Palan targeted to increase the current strength of 2,087 by 35 per cent.
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MEGB has scaled down its nursing programme while growing more in-demand courses such as medicine, physiotherapy and medical imaging, he said.He said the group's key focus was not growing the number of students but rather providing quality education rather than having quantity.
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