PERTAMA DIGITAL MOVES TO INCREASE STAKE IN DAPAT VISTA FAR AHEAD OF DEADLINE
Resulting substantial majority stake will further entrench Pertama Digital in the lucrative software space
Pertama Digital Berhad has announced that it is increasing its stake in govtech software company DAPAT Vista (M) Sdn Bhd.
The firm position is taken by its subsidiary, Television Airtime Services Sdn Bhd (TAS), exercising its contractual option to acquire a further 24% equity in Dapat, from the other shareholder HeiTech Padu Berhad. Under the contract signed in 2019, TAS has the right to acquire up to 60% ordinary shares in Dapat until December 2023. This contractual right is being executed a full 10 quarters before the deadline. Before 2020, TAS was a 20% shareholder in Dapat while HeiTech held the remaining 80%. Completion of the acquisition will see TAS increasing its ordinary shareholding to 80% while HeiTech becomes a 20% shareholder.
Sabri Ab Rahman, Pertama Digital’s Executive Director, said, “Although TAS is allowed another 2 years to complete the acquisition, we are executing our rights now to strategically take advantage of the global flight to digitalisation, with our region leading the trend. Pertama Digital will capitalise on the business uptrends consistently delivered by Dapat throughout the pandemic and make good on its investment in TAS. Of course, this bodes well for Dapat’s larger contribution to the bottomline of Pertama Digital.”
Listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad, Pertama Digital backs govtech and fintech initiatives that build impactful, inclusive solutions for Malaysians. Pertama Digital acquired a 51% stake in TAS in May 2020. TAS is the holding company of Dapat, which owns and operates the government SMS portal mySMS, mobile payments app MyPay as well as eJamin, the world’s first smartphone court bail payment solution, now live in courts all over Malaysia. Recently, Pertama Digital’s consortium applied for a digital banking licence from Bank Negara Malaysia, focused on a collaborative approach with ecosystem players to provide ethical and productive financing for the financially underserved to fuel post-pandemic productivity.
