By TMR / Pic By TMR File

Westports Holdings Bhd is buying a piece of leasehold land under the sea in Pulau Indah, Klang, with a size of 381 acres (154.18ha) for RM116 million cash.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia on Monday, the port operator noted that its wholly owned subsidiary, Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd, has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Selangor State Development Corp (PKNS) for the land.

The port operator said the land will be utilised for terminal expansion, which will be made possible after its ongoing land reclamation work.

“The current preliminary port design for Container Terminal 10 to Container Terminal 19 requires additional land acreage to accommodate new wharf and container yard space in order to facilitate the effective operations of new container terminals.

“The terminal expansion will only be possible after the land reclamation is carried out at its existing Container Terminal 6, 7, 8 and 9,” it said on Monday.

The port operator said the purchase will be satisfied entirely via cash derived from internally generated funds and bank borrowings.

It added that the proposed acquisition will not have any impact on the port operator’s share capital, net assets and earnings per share for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2018.

The agreement is expected to be executed within two weeks from the first payment, which was agreed to be today.