Pelita Samudra Pertama (M) Sdn Bhd executive director KK Sihabutheen said 30% of the company’s stock would be put up on the market, adding it would take at least 18 months to get the company listed on the Malaysian stock exchange.

“As for the stock price, it will be announced after we have received feedback from bankers,” he told reporters in Seberang Jaya here today.

According to him, plans are also in place to open as many as six new restaurants across Malaysia within the next three years.

Sihabutheen said that depending on the commercial feasibility, the company will open more outlets in Penang and Kuala Lumpur in the second quarter of 2020, and another two to three new outlets outside the Klang Valley between 2021 and 2022.

The Pelita restaurant chain, which began operations in 1994, employs some 1,600 workers including locals and foreigners.

“In order to expand and diversify the group’s operations into other industries, the (Pelita) group is currently planning to set up a private international school in Perai by 2021,” he said.

For this plan, he said, a pilot project would be initiated at a primary-secondary school level, consisting of two classrooms for each standard year with a capacity of between 20 and 25 students per classroom.

He pointed out that should the pilot project succeed, the company would continue to set up more such institutions and include pre-university studies in its programme.