BIOENERGY-based Elridge Energy Holdings Bhd has landed its biggest government-linked institutional investor (GLIC) to-date after Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd emerged the company’s substantial shareholder with direct holding of 105.19 million shares or 5.26% stake in the company.
This came about after the Minister of Finance Inc wholly owned investment holding and asset management company acquired 7.19 million shares in Elridge on July 9 via Citigroup Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd, according to the company’s Bursa Malaysia filing today (July 15).
The group which is principally involved in the manufacturing and trading of biomass fuel products, particularly PKS (palm kernel shells) and wood pellets, was listed on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on Aug 22 last year.
Other major institutional investors in Elridge include Mikro MSC Bhd (20.62% stake/412.5 million shares); Kayavest Sdn Bhd (16.37%/327.32 million shares); Bio Eneco Holding Sdn Bhd (9.32%/186.5 million shares) and Norges Bank Investment Management (2.95%/59 million shares).
Elridge kickstarted its 1Q FY2025 ended March 31, 2025 on a positive note with a net profit of RM13.58 mil on the back of RM109.67 mil in revenue that were mainly contributed by customers based in Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia.
PKS remain the cornerstone of the group’s operations by contributing RM95.81 mil or 87.36% of total revenue while the remaining RM13.87 mil was derived from the trading and manufacturing of wood pellets.
According to Coherent Market Insights, the PKS industry in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 8.9% from US$308.6 mil (RM1.4 bil) in 2024 to US$366.1 mil (RM1.7 bil) by 2026.
The wood pellet market in the region is also forecast to expand at a CAGR of 8.6% to reach USD$12.5 bil (RM57.1 bil) in 2026 from US$10.6 bil (RM48.4 bil) in 2024.
“To support this growing market, we’re executing our expansion plan with the development of new manufacturing sites in Pasir Gudang (Johor), Kuantan (Pahang) and Lahad Datu (Sabah),” revealed the group’s executive director and CEO Oliver Yeo.
“These facilities will each house two PKS production lines with a combined annual output of 240,000 metric tonnes per site. The capacity expansion will enhance our ability to secure long-term export contracts and reinforce our position in the regional biomass supply chain.”
At the close of today’s (July 15) market trading, Elridge was up 0.5 sen or 0.79% to 64 sen with 17.48 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM1.28 bil. – July 15, 2025
