Regional communications services provider CMC Infocomm yesterday launched its initial public offering (IPO), with shares bound for the Catalist board.

It is offering 24 million new shares at 25 cents each in only the eighth IPO on the local bourse so far this year. Of these new shares, 19.2 million are placement shares and 2.4 million are being offered to the public. The rest have been reserved for subscription.

CMC Infocomm expects to raise $4 million from the IPO, with most to be used for expansion.

Formerly CMC Communications, CMC Infocomm was established in 2011 through a joint venture between Malaysia's CMC Engineering and TEE International.

It acquired various subsidiaries in Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore from Keppel T&T's Keppel Communications unit. CMC Infocomm installs and maintains telecommunications infrastructure. Its clients include M1, StarHub and Singtel as well as Huawei and Nokia.

For the nine months ended Feb 28, it saw a net profit of $461,000, on revenue of $11.9 million.

Besides building up its operations in Thailand and the Philippines, CMC Infocomm plans to move into Malaysia.

"It's a market we cannot ignore," said chief executive Kevin Phua, adding that he was also eyeing "a more prominent regional spread".

The firm may also expand into Indonesia, which the company was forced to exit due to tightened government regulations on foreign telecommunications firms in 2010.

Some $600,000 of the net proceeds will help repay the $2.6 million owed to controlling shareholder TEE International and $200,000 will be used as working capital.

Executive director Hazwan Rahman said CMC Infocomm is committed to minimising external financing, and that the sum to be raised for working capital, which is "just enough", is expected to tide the firm over for now.

The IPO closes at noon on Aug 11 and trading is expected to begin two days later.