‘Casio King’ surfaces as major shareholder of Computer Forms

TheEdge Wed, Oct 26, 2016 09:59am - 7 years View Original


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 26, 2016.

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Elusive tycoon Tan Sri Robert Tan Hua Choon — once dubbed the “Casio King” for being the only distributor of the brand’s watches and calculators — has re-emerged on Bursa Malaysia after a two-year hiatus, with the acquisition of a controlling stake in Computer Forms (M) Bhd last week.

According to a bourse filing, Tan acquired 9.82 million shares or 23.9% of Computer Forms via off-market trades on Oct 14 (5.89 million shares) and Oct 17 (3.93 million shares), thus establishing himself as the controlling shareholder with a 28.8% stake. Previously, he had only two million shares.

Bloomberg data showed that Tan paid RM4.63 million or RM1.18 apiece for the shares he bought on Oct 17. On Oct 14, he paid RM6.77 million or RM1.15 each for the 5.89 million shares he bought from World Grain Sdn Bhd, the previous controlling shareholder of Computer Forms which sold off its entire 14.36% stake that day.

Tan’s move came after a series of boardroom changes at Computer Forms, which included the redesignation of Datuk Anderson Thor Poh Seng as non-independent director, according to a filing with Bursa. He was previously an independent director of the board from March 2006.

Thor has long been regarded as closely associated with Tan in corporate matters.

Computer Forms, which specialises in printing and distributing computer, stock and specialised forms, saw its net loss widen to RM1.05 million in the first financial quarter ended June 30, 2016, from RM926,000 a year ago.

Its share price has moved little since Tan’s buy-in, and is down 18.38% year to date. It closed up one sen or 0.91% at RM1.11 yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM45.1 million.

In the quarterly results filing, Computer Forms said it “expects the performance of both its revenue and profitability to remain sluggish in view of the challenging economic environment”.

The company also noted its several plots of land in its asset books. Notably, its 5.4-acre (2.19ha) tract in the PKNS Setapak Industrial Area was last valued at RM18.3 million in March 2008.

Three other plots in the same district were valued at RM8.16 million, RM1.64 million and RM705,101 respectively, according to its 2016 annual report. All three were also last revalued in 2008.

Tan’s recent acquisition came as a surprise because the tycoon, 74, seemed to be on a divesting spree two years ago.

In February 2014, Tan sold 24.8% of Malaysia Aica Bhd — which has since been renamed Sunsuria Bhd — to Datuk Ter Leong Yap. Subsequently, he sold his 19.93% stake in shipping firm PDZ Holdings Bhd to Pelaburan Mara Bhd in April.

In June last year, two individuals having close ties with Tan acquired blocks of shares in Central Industrial Corp Bhd.

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