Source: PGF Establishes New Wholly-Owned Subsidiary And Regional HQ In Australia | BusinessToday

PGF Capital Bhd announced that it has registered a wholly-owned subsidiary known as PGF Insulation Pty Ltd in Victoria, Australia under the Australian Corporations Act 2001.

PGF is primarily involved in the design, manufacture, and distribution of glass mineral wool insulation. While the Group has been exporting to markets such as South East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific, the newly incorporated subsidiary will act as a platform to undertake its expansion of businesses in the manufacturing division in the Oceania region. This is in line with the proposed utilisation of proceeds raised from the issuance of the Group’s Irredeemable Convertible Preference Shares (“ICPS”) carried out recently.

In March 2022, PGF completed the proposal on the renounceable right issue of up to 79,987,474 new ICPS on the basis of 1 ICPS for every 2 existing ordinary shares in PGF. The gross proceeds raised from the ICPS is approximately RM7.99 million. Based on the proposal, RM3.00 million is to be utilized to fund the expansion of the manufacturing division in the Oceania market.

“While the Group has been exporting to the Oceania market, currently, we do not have any physical presence in the region. The establishment of our wholly-owned subsidiary in Australia coupled with the setting up of our regional HQ in Melbourne, Victoria will enable the Group to be in closer proximity to the Oceania market, increasing our ability to read and analyse customer needs and respond in a timely manner,” said Executive Chairman Mr. Fong Wern Sheng.

“We are currently looking to set up multiple warehouses in the Oceania region to serve as our logistic and distribution hubs. The Group will set up these logistic and distribution hubs in stages and expect to have at least 3 hubs to be in operation by the third quarter of 2023.”

Glass mineral wool is mainly used as an insulator on buildings to save energy and provide indoor comfort through thermal and acoustic insulation. Glass mineral wool can retard heat flow when installed on building envelopes and thereby reducing the use of energy. Another common application is in air-conditioning ducts. Effective thermal insulation of the ductwork reduces the heat gain and helps to minimise energy usage.

The National Construction Code (NCC) is Australia’s primary set of technical design and construction provisions for buildings. The NCC is updated every 3 years, based on required regulatory practices, industry research, public feedback provided, and policy directions from Governments. NCC 2022 will be the largest single amendment to the building code since its inception, both in terms of the volume of changes and the significance of the changes. Among the changes advocated are increasing minimal thermal performance and whole-of-home annual energy use requirements. This bodes well with PGF’s expansion plans to the region.