Chai takes helm of Astral Supreme, confident of winning govt housing jobs

PETALING JAYA: Astral Supreme Bhd has appointed Datuk Eddie Chai Woon Chet its executive director, in a bid to turnaround the loss-making group, to facilitate its participation in a RM600 million government housing project.
Chai, who held a press conference after a board meeting to appoint him as executive director yesterday, said he currently does not hold any shares in the company but may acquire some shares at a later date.
"Astral Supreme's subsidiary Astral Supreme Construction Sdn Bhd, received the letter of intent yesterday to join the tender of some projects. This is the Projek Perumahan Rakyat (People's Housing Programme or PPR). We just had a special board meeting and the board approved it, so we're going to have a study (done) on this project," he told reporters yesterday.
The PPR project is valued at RM600 million but the group's participation may only be 50% or 25%.
"I will bring the professional construction arm to immediately look into it and study the project. We will know whether we can get the letter of award within a month after we have put this on the board meeting. We still need to work out the cash flow, the profits and we need to table it at the next board meeting.
"We're confident of getting this award with my professional team. I think this subsidiary company will help to turnaround the whole group. Give us a year to realise this," said Chai.
He added that it will announce the PPR project's potential contribution to the group's profit in two to three weeks' time, after concluding a feasibility study.
To date, Chai said the group only has one other potential project on its plate namely the joint venture (JV) with Zenith PMC Sdn Bhd to undertake the Penang undersea tunnel job.
The JV agreement was signed in August last year to begin feasibility studies on the undersea tunnel job. According to Chai, the two companies need more time to study the details of the project.
"Once we've decided we will announce it, there's a lot of paper work, we need to consider (the project)," he said.
Meanwhile, the group's core business remains in manufacturing, assembly and export of electronic products and components.
"We don't have any intention to change the core business yet. Give me some time because I've just been appointed as the executive director. Maybe I can give better direction after the next board meeting," said Chai.
Astral Supreme posted two consecutive quarter of losses. The group posted net losses of RM2.43 million and RM9.46 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2013 and the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2013 respectively.
Yesterday, the group also announced the appointment of Wong Kwai Wah as a director. Wong is currently the executive director of Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd.
Ong Tai Chin who was the managing director (MD) until Jan 1, resigned yesterday. The group which had initially announced the resignation of Cherng Chin Guan as an executive director, backtracked saying that the announcement was erroneously released.
On whether Chai will take on the role of MD, he said "it depends on the board".
Chai, who is involved in various sectors including logging, property, automotive and telecommunications, said he is not looking at further diversification into other sectors at the moment.
His most recent appointment was in January when he was named managing director of Malaysia's only listed mobile virtual network operator XOX Bhd.
Chai is also the chairman of LCL M&E Engineering Sdn Bhd which specialises in mechanical and electrical engineering in the construction industry, and executive director of Sabah-based property development company Lintasan Mayang Development Sdn Bhd.
Astral Supreme was one of the most actively traded stocks yesterday. Its shares closed up 2.2% at 22.5 sen, with some 48.99 million shares.