KUALA LUMPUR: Malakoff Corporation Bhd is operationally and financially ready to return to the market next year, leveraging on growth plans to achieve better profitability.

The process to relist Malakoff, which include appointing advisers and underwriters, started last month and will take 612 months to complete, MMC Corporation Bhd group managing director Datuk Hasni Harun told Business Times in a recent interview.

Malakoff, 51 per cent owned by MMC, was taken private in 2006, valued at RM9 billion then. Malakoff presently has a generation capacity of 5028MW, representing 23 per cent of Peninsula Malaysia's market share.

Hasni said since being taken private, several catalysts have emerged that will further enhance Malakoff's capabilities as the country's leading independent power producer (IPP). Among them are the award to Malakoff of a 1,000MW coal fired power plant extension at the Tanjung Bin power plant in Johor.

The power plant is expected to begin operations in 2016. Once completed, Tanjung Bin's power plant generation capacity will increase from the present 2.100MW to 3.100MW in 2016 and raise Malakoff's IPP market share to 25 per cent Others are the acquisition of a 40 per cent stake in Hidd Power Co, a power and generation provider in Bahrain, which will boost Malakoff's credentials in the international market.

Hasni said based on Hidd's generation capacity of 929MW, the acquisition price works out to RM374.596 per MW.