There were applications for only 25 percent of the shares on offer, leaving the underwriters with the prospect of coughing up RM1.4 billion (S$642.6 million) in cash for the balance of the 572 million shares offered.
To relieve themselves of the burden of carrying the flop, Bernama reported that analysts were speculating that a substantial stake in the company might be placed out to a foreign strategic partner.
Time dotCom's parent company, Time Engineering Bhd, is struggling under debts of RM5.2 billion (S$2.37 billion). It had been hoped that the listing would raise RM1.89 billion (S$866 million).
The IPO offered 343 million shares to the public at RM3.30 a (S$1.51) share. Another 229 million placement shares were offered to shareholders like state-owned Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which had stepped in when a plan to sell a minority stake of the company to Singapore Telecoms Ltd was scotched for political reasons.
However, the unprecedented undersubscription rate has fueled speculation that the Singapore telco may have another shot at Time dotCom, which runs Malaysia's largest fiber-optics network.
However, The Business Times reported that SingTel remained coy about ringing in for a deal. A spokesman for the company responded to the paper's inquiries with a bland "SingTel is interested in investment opportunities in the Asia Pacific region."
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