Locally-listed industrial-park operator Phnom Penh SEZ Plc (PPSP) successfully acquired the remaining 40 per cent stake in construction company Sahas E&C Co Ltd from its joint venture (JV) partner LCH for $1,172,514.82, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary.

In a statement to the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) on July 19, PPSP noted that the move follows the approval from the Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia (SERC) on March 18.

“The new shareholding was registered with the Ministry of Commerce on 11 May 2021, Sahas E&C Co Ltd is fully owned by PPSP from now on. Currently, we are waiting for the approval letter [for] transferring tax [liabilities,] from [the] General Department of Taxation,” it said.

In a filing to the CSX on March 22, PPSP said Sahas is “primarily engage[d] in all [areas of] construction and building works including but not limited to engineering, design, procurement, project management and maintenance”.

PPSP said the appointed auditor Baker Tilly had calculated the final price for the acquisition, to be paid in two tranches – $500,000 on March 18 and $672,514.82 before April 14.

CEO Hiroshi Uematsu told The Post in March that PPSP established Sahas in 2017 to “get projects from outside Phnom Penh SEZ, as well as inside our zone”, referring to the 357.3ha Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) in the western part of the capital.

“Sahas has been accumulating [the] know-how of construction, especially for road[s], water system[s] and factory building through PPSEZ’s development.

“We thought that we could expand our service outside the zone in order to meet the needs of industrial sector.

“By doing so, we can increase recurring income from Sahas. We appointed Rithy Loeung, a Cambodian engineer as general manager of the company in order to localise our group’s operation,” he added.