KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (Mavcap) has doubled its fund allocation to RM200mil under the Second Outsource Partners Program (OSP-2) in a move to further grow Malaysia's venture capital (VC) industry.

The fund, which is part of the RM500mil allocation to the Finance Ministry under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, will see Mavcap investing up to RM30mil in three new outsource partners within the next few months.

Mavcap would impose fewer restrictions on new outsource partners, provided they were able to raise a sizeable amount of funds to either match or exceed Mavcap's investment, chief executive officer Norazharuddin Abu Talib said after launching OSP-2 yesterday.

Under OSP-2, existing outsource partners - Photonics Venture Capital, DTA Ventures Management, iSpring Venture Management and Expedient Equity - would be eligible for additional investments of RM25mil each upon meeting certain conditions and the approval of Mavcap.

Mavcap, a wholly-owned unit of the Ministry of Finance Inc, will utilise the remaining budget of RM300mil for its own investments.

Norazharuddin said OSP-2 was aimed at attracting more professional individuals to form local VC companies. He said Mavcap had reviewed 1,180 business proposals and invested in 39 companies over the past five years.

"The number of investments represents 3.3%, which is three times higher than the industry average of 1% to 2%," he said, adding that 86% of Mavcap's funds were invested in Malaysia with the remainder abroad.

Four outsourced partners were selected to manage four VC funds under the first outsourced program in 2001. To date, these partners have reviewed 1,617 business proposals and invested in 34 companies.

Mavcap chairman Datuk Dr Abdul Samad Alias said the government was the largest contributor to VC funding with a 37.8% share of the RM2.59bil VC fund as at end-2005.

MALAYSIA Venture Capital Management Bhd (Mavcap) plans to increase the maximum grant for its Cradle Investment Programme (CIP) to RM100,000 next year, from the current RM50,000.

The increased fund size will see more ideas from technopreneurs and researchers being converted into commercially viable ventures.

"We are in the midst of preparing the infrastructure, which we hope will be ready by the end of this year," Mavcap chairman Datuk Dr Abdul Samad Alias told reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The increased fund size is part of the RM500 million allocated for Mavcap under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).

Under the 9MP, the Government has almost doubled its allocation for the information, communications and technology sector to RM13 billion from RM7.8 billion previously.

Initiated by the Ministry of Finance through Mavcap, CIP is a pre-seed funding programme, which provides conditional grants of up to RM50,000 for innovative ideas. The programme, with a total fund size of RM100 million, was introduced in 2003 and has so far funded 141 recipients.

Yesterday, Mavcap launched its second outsource partners programme (OSP-2) to further boost the venture capital industry in Malaysia.

The OSP-2 involves an allocation of RM200 million to be invested in seven venture capital funds.

Half of the fund will be allocated to its four existing outsource partners, or RM25 million per company who are under OSP-1, to fund their expansion plans. The companies are Photonics Venture Capital, DTA Ventures Management, iSpring Venture Management and Expedient Equity.

Meanwhile, Mavcap plans to invest up to RM30 million in three new outsource partners, which it hopes to identify within the next few months. The remaining fund will be allocated for Mavcap's future investment plans.

Mavcap chief executive officer Norazharuddin Abu Talib said he is calling for professionals and technology companies to submit their proposals to Mavcap soon.

He said Mavcap will impose fewer restrictions on the new outsource partners with the aim to make the fund more commercially oriented.

"This is provided they are able to raise a sizeable amount of funds from the market to either match or exceed Mavcap's investment," he said.

To date, Mavcap has received almost 1,180 business proposals.

Since it was established in 2001, Mavcap has invested in 39 companies of which seven have been listed on Bursa Malaysia. Its partners are mostly involved in the telecommunications, software and electronic manufacturing industries.

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd. (MAVCAP) akan memperuntukkan sebanyak RM200 juta bagi Program Pengurusan Dana Kedua MAVCAP (OSP-2) yang baru dilancarkan hari ini.

Ketua Pegawai Eksekutifnya, Norazharuddin Abu Talib berkata, peruntukan itu akan dilaburkan dalam tujuh dana modal teroka sebagai usaha untuk meningkatkan lagi pertumbuhan industri modal teroka di negara ini di bawah Rancangan Malaysia Kesembilan (RMK-9).

Tambah beliau, peruntukan sebanyak RM200 juta itu merupakan sebahagian daripada peruntukan kerajaan berjumlah RM500 juta dalam RMK-9.

Norazharuddin berkata, antara syarikat yang akan mendapat manfaat daripada program berkenaan ialah empat pengurus dana sedia ada dengan memperoleh kemudahan tambahan, masing-masing sebanyak RM25 juta.

Syarikat-syarikat itu ialah Photonics Venture Capital Sdn. Bhd. (Photonics Venture), DTA Venture Management Sdn. Bhd. (DTA Venture), iSpring Venture Management Sdn. Bhd. (iSpring Venture) dan Expedient Equity Sdn. Bhd. (Expedient Equity).

Bagaimanapun, sebelum diberikan pembiayaan tambahan tersebut, beliau berkata, keempat-empat syarikat perlu mematuhi beberapa garis panduan yang ditentukan oleh lembaga pengarah MAVCAP.

Dibangunkan

"Kita juga akan menyediakan peruntukan kepada tiga buah syarikat lain yang mana masing-masing akan menerima pembiayaan sebanyak RM30 juta.

"Segala keputusan mengenainya akan diketahui dalam tempoh beberapa bulan akan datang," katanya dalam sidang akhbar selepas majlis pelancaran Program Pengurusan Dana Kedua MAVCAP (OSP-2) di sini.

MAVCAP merupakan anak syarikat milik penuh Kementerian Kewangan Diperbadankan yang dibangunkan untuk menguruskan modal teroka dalam sektor maklumat, komunikasi, teknologi dan lain-lain yang berkaitan.

Dalam masa yang sama, MAVCAP mengalu-alukan lebih banyak permohonan daripada pengurus dana sedia ada dan syarikat-syarikat yang baru.

"Tarikh tutup permohonan adalah sebelum 15 September ini dan kita harapkan lebih banyak permohonan dengan cadangan yang berkualiti pada program kali kedua ini," katanya lagi.

Mengulas lanjut mengenai Program Pengurusan Dana Pertamanya yang dilancarkan pada tahun 2001, Norazharuddin berkata, MAVCAP telah menerima 21 permohonan dan setelah mengkajinya, sebanyak empat pengurus dana telah dilantik.

Mereka ialah DTA Venture, iSpring Venture, Photonic Venture dan Expedient Equity dengan pembiayaan daripada MAVCAP masing-masing sebanyak RM25 juta.

Katanya, selepas lima tahun penubuhannya, MAVCAP telah menunjukkan beberapa prestasi yang menggalakkan, antaranya tujuh buah syarikat telahpun disenaraikan di bursa saham tempatan.

ISS Consulting Solutions Bhd's shares for application by the public have been oversubscribed 11.38 times.

The company received 12,005 applications totalling 135.19 million shares for the 10.9 million shares it had made available for public subscription.

The public issue of ISS Consulting comprises 10.91 million new ordinary shares made available for application by the Malaysian public, 5.16 million new ordinary shares made available for the eligible directors, employees of ISS Consulting and its subsidiary companies.

In addition, 25.08 million new ordinary shares of RM0.10 each for placement to identified investors.

A total of 8.97 million unsubscribed shares for eligible directors and employees of ISS Consulting and its subsidiary companies and placement to identified investors are made available to the Malaysian public.

ISS Consulting is to be listed on the Mesdaq market of Bursa Malaysia on August 2 this year.

The adviser, co-underwriter, sponsor and co-placement agent for the initial public offering is Alliance Merchant Bank Bhd.