Shares in Lion Industries Corp Bhd rose in active trade this morning, following news that it was disposing of its hot-briquettes iron (HBI) plant and business in Labuan for US$128 million (RM546.56 million) cash to Singapore's Esteel Enterprise Pte Ltd.

At the time of writing, Lion Industries was the fifth most actively traded counter across Bursa Malaysia, with share transactions topping 28 million, as its share price rose 6.5 sen or 23.21% to 34.5 sen.

Yesterday, Lion Industries said it had inked a sale and purchase agreement with Esteel for the disposal of 100% stake in Antara Steel Mill Sdn Bhd, which operates the HBI plant in Labuan.

Upon completion of the proposed disposal, the group is expected to realise a gain of RM433.16 million, and will increase the group's net asset per share by 63.62 sen.

The deal also represents 5.08 times price-to-earnings based on its profit after tax of RM107.65 million for the financial year ended June 30, 2019. Comparatively, Lion Industries' entire steel business results booked a loss of RM75.14 million for the period.