Major shareholder of Great Eastern Ltd

The companies under 93-year-old Lee Thor Seng would have not been in the limelight if not for their investment in the insurer, Great Eastern Holdings Ltd.

Lee, whose uncle Tan Sri Lee Kong Chian is the founder of Lee Rubber Co, controls The Nyalas Rubber Estates Ltd, the third largest shareholder of Great Eastern.

Nyalas Rubber Estates controls Sungei Bagan Rubber Co (Malaya) Bhd (KL:SBAGAN) through Kluang Rubber Co (Malaya) Bhd (KL:KLUANG). Meanwhile, Sungei Bagan had a 1.01% stake in Great Eastern as at March 5, 2025.

In a nutshell, Lee is the second largest shareholder of Great Eastern through Nyalas Rubber and Sungei Bagan.

The value of both his direct and indirect interests in Great Eastern drew attention following Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd’s (OCBC) bid to take over the insurer.

In June this year, OCBC made another attempt — its fourth since 2004 — to take Great Eastern private but was unsuccessful. OCBC already owned 93.7% of Great Eastern and came up with a fresh exit offer for the rest of the shares it did not own.

Had the deal gone through, Nyalas Rubber’s and Sungei Bagan’s interests in OCBC would be worth some RM846 million. That is more than the combined market capitalisation of both Sungei Bagan and Kluang Rubber, which is Lee’s flagship company.

But OCBC could not get enough support to see the de-listing of Great Eastern through. As a result, Sungei Bagan was unable to realise the value of its interest in Great Eastern.

Since 2023, the companies under Lee have been streamlining their assets. Lee and his sons, Justin and Colin, do not sit on the boards of the companies.

Apart from Kluang Rubber and Sungei Bagan, Lee also controls Kuchai Development Bhd through Kluang Rubber.

All three companies used to be tied through a web of cross-holdings. However, two years ago, Lee started to streamline his assets and cut off the cross holdings. Following this, Kluang Rubber now holds a direct interest in Sungei Bagan and Kuchai Development.

Last month, Kuchai Development distributed its shares and cash, and was de-listed.

Will Lee undertake a similar streamlining exercise with regard to his interest in Sungei Bagan? If that happens, it would bring the Great Eastern shares closer to Lee and Nyalas Rubber. — By M Shanmugam

Non-independent non-executive chairman of KNM Group Bhd & executive chairman of MAA Group Bhd

In an interview with The Edge in mid-November this year, Tunku Datuk Yaacob Khyra, non-independent non-executive chairman of engineering outfit KNM Group Bhd, was asked: “If you had the power to turn back time, would you still buy into KNM?”

After a brief silence, he said that perhaps he would not have bought into the company.

Yaacob’s flagship MAA Group Bhd (KL:MAA), of which he is executive chairman and in which he holds close to 42% interest, has a 19.37% stake in KNM, making it the largest shareholder of the company.

The financially distressed KNM has been classified as a Practice Note 17 (PN17) company since Oct 31, 2022, just over a year after MAA emerged as a substantial shareholder with 7.02% equity interest on Sept 2, 2021.

Since then, Yaacob and the management have been fighting fire after fire as KNM’s fortunes spiralled downwards.

KNM, which desperately needed to pare down its borrowings, devised a plan to hive off its German unit Borsig GmbH to Japan’s NGK Insulators Ltd for €270 million (RM1.26 billion). However, the sale was thwarted by Bursa Malaysia in October, as KNM’s Malaysian operations managed to chalk up revenues of just RM6.44 million in FY2024, and RM1.38 million in 1HFY2025. Its order book of RM2.83 million, as at July 31, 2025, was deemed uninspiring.

Yaacob and KNM opted to withdraw an earlier appeal against delisting, setting the stage for KNM to be delisted on Nov 5.

The company also intended to hold an extraordinary meeting (EGM) to get shareholders to approve the sale, but Bursa Malaysia sought legal redress to prevent the meeting, and hence the sale.

To circumvent the regulator, KNM sought an EGM with its shareholders after it was delisted, and the sale was approved.

However, at end-November, KNM said in a statement that NGK was concerned over Bursa Malaysia’s legal action against KNM and sought more time.

Will Yaacob be able to steady the ship and finally revive the ailing company next year? — By Jose Barrock 

Executive chairman of Genting Bhd & deputy chairman of Genting Malaysia Bhd

Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay is building yet another casino in the US. This one will cost him US$7.5 billion (RM30.7 billion), including US$2 billion for 30-year community programmes. The investment is among the bigger deals in the Malaysian corporate scene.

This will be the third casino under the 73-year-old’s belt in New York state and the fourth in the US.

On top of that, Genting Bhd (KL:GENTING) launched a voluntary takeover offer at RM2.35 per share to take Genting Malaysia Bhd (KL:GENM) private. The privatisation did not materialise, but the offer raised Genting’s stake in GENM to 73.855% as at Dec 5 from 49.5%.

Despite winning the casino licence on Dec 1, the Genting group has failed to garner the interest of investors. Both Genting’s and GENM’s share prices have drifted lower amid concerns of mounting debt to fund the new investments.

Genting’s total borrowings have soared to RM39 billion currently. The takeover of GENM is expected to have added to its debt.

Genting had said that most of the debt is at operating level and backed by cash flow from the operations, except for the cost incurred in the takeover of GENM.

Genting’s debt ballooned in early 2018 to fund its US$4.3 billion Las Vegas casino. At that time, Lim said the group was looking at listing Genting Las Vegas to reduce its debt levels. However, Genting Las Vegas has not been performing up to expectations due to intense competition on the Strip.

The latest casino licence win in New York may have bolstered Lim’s hopes for a listing of Genting’s assets in the US. GENM’s advantage is that it already has a gaming facility under Genting New York at Aqueduct Racetrack and expects to start the table games by the middle of next year, way ahead of its other two competitors.

However, rating agencies have put Genting under a ratings watch until the group makes concerted efforts to reduce its debt.

To lift the weak investor sentiment for the group, Lim needs to dispose of the non-gaming assets at GENM, which includes land in Miami valued at some US$1.2 billion. — By M Shanmugam

Senior executive director of Far East Holdings Bhd & non-independent non-executive director of United Malacca Bhd

Tee Cheng Hua holds several important positions in three related plantation companies — senior executive director of Prosper group, senior executive director of Far East Holdings Bhd (KL:FAREAST) and non-independent non-executive director of United Malacca Bhd (KL:UMCCA).

The three are related via the Prosper group, in which the Tee family has a 60% stake and the Pahang state-controlled Far East holds the remaining 40%. The Prosper group has also amassed more than 30% in United Malacca and is now the company’s largest shareholder. Prosper group first surfaced as a substantial shareholder in United Malacca at end-May 2023 with 5.82% and has since strengthened its shareholdings.

Whether the Prosper group and the Tee family have crossed the 33% threshold that mandates a general offer at United Malacca is moot, as some of the shareholders of United Malacca, other than the Tee family, could be deemed linked to the Prosper group as well.

United Malacca has 48,189ha of plantation land in Malaysia and Indonesia. Far East has 18,808ha in Pahang while Prosper group has 21,000ha, largely in Pahang, with some estates in Selangor and Johor as well. Collectively, the three companies have almost 88,000ha, which would make them a sizeable player.

The firms have a joint collaboration through PARAS (Progressive Agricultural Research and Services) Sdn Bhd, which undertakes research and development on agricultural sciences, including tissue culture for oil palm, agriculture consultancy services for milling, agronomy and planting advisory services. Far East holds 35%, Prosper group 35% and United Malacca 30% in PARAS.

Developments to look out for next year include further collaborations between the three companies and whether United Malacca will be privatised. — By Jose Barrock

Chairman of Marco Holdings Bhd, JKG Land Bhd and FCW Holdings Bhd

Tan Sri Robert Tan Hua Choon has always shunned media attention. Yet in 2025, the low-profile businessman found himself back in the news for developments involving his businesses.

The biggest news related to Tan this year is probably the 84-year-old’s move to sell his majority stake in Jasa Kita Bhd (KL:JASKITA), a listed industrial tools and equipment firm that he had controlled for decades and that was seen as his flagship company.

On Oct 24, Tan and his children stepped down from their executive roles at Jasa Kita. They sold their 40.33% stake to oil and gas veteran Abd Azis Mohamad and his investment firm Kintan Prima Sdn Bhd for RM68.89 million. The transaction was completed on Nov 3.

Tan’s exit was notable as he was regarded as a master of the small-cap space, buying and selling out of many firms — mostly penny stocks — as well as controlling significant stakes in nearly a dozen public-listed companies over the years.

He is also widely known as the “Casio King” for his decades-long exclusive distributorship agreement in Malaysia with Japanese electronics giant Casio Computer Co Ltd, via Marco Holdings Bhd.

Over the past 11 years, Tan has gradually divested his interests in at least five listed companies — prefabricated door manufacturer Malaysia Aica Bhd, shipping outfit PDZ Holdings Bhd (KL:PDZ), ceramic product maker Goh Ban Huat Bhd (GBH), automotive battery producer GPA Holdings Bhd and Computer Forms (M) Bhd (KL:CFM).

Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that Tan pocketed about RM370 million from divesting his stakes in these companies as well in Jasa Kita.

The disposal of Jasa Kita came after a challenging 2024, when Tan was charged in court in relation to Spanco Sdn Bhd, which owned the concession to maintain the government’s fleet of vehicles.

He is accused of misleading the Ministry of Finance over bumiputera shareholding details in a bid to win contracts worth around RM3.966 billion. Tan pleaded not guilty, and the case is ongoing.

For publicity-shy Tan, these developments kept him in the spotlight throughout the year. The combination of a major divestment and an ongoing court case has renewed interest in his business empire — even as he remains silent.

As the year draws to a close, investors are watching to see if the Jasa Kita sale will signal a larger shift. Will he deploy capital elsewhere, streamline his holdings or stay in the background while the Spanco case is being heard? — By Liew Jia Teng