This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 26, 2024 - March 3, 2024

During the holiday-shortened trading week of Feb 13 to 16, notable shareholding changes at Bursa Malaysia-listed companies included those at Sarawak-based cement manufacturer Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMSB), which saw Norges Bank cease to be a substantial shareholder. Having disposed of 760,000 shares on Feb 13, the bank’s direct stake in CMSB fell to 4.93%.

The transacted price was not disclosed in the filing, but the counter closed at RM1.02 on the open market on Feb 13, which works out to a total of RM775,200 for the stake disposal. CMSB’s share price had fallen 21.4% over the past year to close at RM1.03 last Tuesday, valuing the group at RM1.11 billion.

On Jan 4, CMSB’s subsidiary was hit with a RM342.25 million counterclaim from state utility firm Syarikat Sesco Bhd in the two companies’ arbitration proceedings over a power purchase agreement dispute. The hearing before the arbitral tribunal has been fixed for August.

Norges Bank, which manages Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, emerged as a substantial shareholder of CMSB on Jan 29 after acquiring 54.17 million shares, or a 5.042% stake.

Over at Engtex Group Bhd, Datuk Lim Kiam Lam ceased to be a substantial shareholder of the steel reinforcement products manufacturer after disposing of 2.9 million shares on the open market and off market on Feb 8, a filing dated Feb 14 showed.

Lim, who is group non-executive chairman of Ann Joo Resources Bhd, has been paring down his stake in Engtex since December 2023. Prior to the latest disposal, he held a direct stake of 1.602% and an indirect stake of 3.801% through Lim Seng Chee & Sons Sdn Bhd.

Lim emerged as a substantial shareholder of Engtex on June 16, 2020, after acquiring 20 million shares, or an indirect stake of 4.568%, via Lim Seng Chee & Sons. At the time, he also held a direct stake of 0.702%, or 3.07 million shares. Engtex’s share price had risen 81.5% over the past year to close at RM1.18 last Tuesday, valuing the group at RM523.12 million.

At Zecon Bhd, its second-largest shareholder Tan Sri Tommy Bugo @ Hamid Bugo upped his direct equity interest in the Sarawak-based construction group by 200,000 shares via two business transactions on Feb 9 and 13. This brings his total direct shareholding to 20.24 million shares, or 13.733%.

He also holds an indirect stake of 0.788%, or one million shares. Zecon’s share price had risen 7.5% over the past year to close at 43 sen last Tuesday, valuing the group at RM62.66 million.

AmanahRaya Trustees Bhd-Amanah Saham Bumiputera took profit on its investment in S P Setia Bhd as share price of the property developer rose, disposing of another 2.52 million shares during the week in review. Post-transactions, the fund still has 1.01 billion shares, or a direct stake of 22.642%.

S P Setia’s share price had risen 10.6% year to date and 40.5% over the past year to close at 88.5 sen last Tuesday, valuing the group at RM3.92 billion.

Filings with Bursa Malaysia during the week in review showed AmanahRaya Trustees Bhd-Amanah Saham Bumiputera also taking profit on its investment in diversified group Sime Darby Bhd, disposing of a total of 12.14 million shares between Feb 7 and 9. Post-disposals, the fund is left with 2.43 billion shares, or a direct stake of 35.654% in Sime Darby.

Sime Darby’s shares were trading in the range of RM2.43 to RM2.46 apiece between Feb 7 and 9. The stock had risen 10.5% so far this year and 13.4% over the past year to close at RM2.63 last Tuesday, its highest level in five years, valuing the group at RM17.93 billion.

After completing its acquisition of Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s 61.2% stake in UMW Holdings Bhd for RM3.57 billion, or RM5 cash per share, Sime Darby made a mandatory general offer last December to buy the remaining 38.82% of UMW. At the MGO’s extended closing date of Jan 31, Sime Darby already had a 98.86% stake pending the completion of its compulsory acquisition of the remaining UMW shares, the trading of which was suspended on Feb 9. 

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