Notable filings

IN the holiday-shortened week of May 10 to 14, notable filings included those at Hwa Tai Industries Bhd. Lim Kam Seng, who emerged as a substantial shareholder in the biscuit maker about three months ago, has ceased to be one after disposing of 360,000 shares on the open market on May 10. Hwa Tai’s share price closed at 59 sen that day, double what it was a year ago.

Lim had become a substantial shareholder on Feb 5 with 3.76 million shares, or a 5.024% stake, after accumulating shares on the open market since last year.

Elsewhere, Sedania Innovator Bhd announced in a stock exchange filing on May 10 that Datuk Nasri Nasrun had ceased to be a substantial shareholder on April 27 after selling three million shares of the technology incubator.

An accountant by training, Nasri became a substantial shareholder on Jan 19 after acquiring 20 million shares, or a 6.62% stake. That acquisition was announced on March 9. He then sold three million shares on April 19 and 20, trimming his stake to 5.625%, before this latest transaction.

On April 20, Sedania had put out a statement saying that it continued to be the leading provider of airtime sharing services in Malaysia, having renewed its contract with all key telecommunication clients in the country.

Its proprietary sharing platform enables prepaid and postpaid users to instantly share small amounts from RM1 up to RM25 as an alternative to regular top-ups, which require cash.

Nasri is also involved in other industries such as information and communications technology through SCAN Associates Bhd and oil and gas services through Setegap Ventures Petroleum Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Uzma Bhd.

During the period under review, Cuscapi Bhd saw its executive chairman Datuk Jayakumar Panneer Selvam accumulate more shares in the loss-making point-of-sales systems provider. On May 11, he acquired two million shares on the open market at 24 sen each. The counter closed at 24 sen that day.

This latest transaction takes Jayakumar’s direct shareholding in Cuscapi to 7.917%, or 68.03 million shares. He also holds an indirect stake of 15.935%, or 136.93 million shares.

Jayakumar has been steadily acquiring Cuscapi shares since March; as at March 3, he held a 4.31% direct stake, or 37 million shares.

Meanwhile, in a bourse filing on May 10, Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd (CCB) said Open Road Sdn Bhd had emerged as a new substantial shareholder in the company.

Open Road acquired a total of 5.06 million shares on the open market on May 7, giving it a direct stake of 5.023% in the company. The price at which the shares were transacted was not disclosed. On that day, CCB closed at RM3, its highest level in more than four years, translating into a market capitalisation of RM302.23 million.

Open Road has since gone on to buy more shares, raising its stake to 5.252%, according to a bourse filing on May 17.

The Edge reported in its May 10 issue that this new shareholder may prove to be an obstacle to Singapore-based Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd’s (JCCL) efforts to take CCB private. Open Road is an investment holding company controlled by its founder and group adviser Datuk David Goh.

JCCL, the controlling shareholder of CCB with a 75.64% stake as at May 17, had in March offered to privatise CCB — one of the country’s largest dealers of Mercedez-Benz vehicles — at RM2.40 a share, or RM241. 79 million. Last week, the deadline for the acceptance of the offer was extended, for a final time, to June 4 from May 21.

To take CCB private, JCCL needs to obtain 90% of the number of shares it did not own at the time when it launched its takeover offer in order to trigger a compulsory share acquisition.

As at April 7, it owned 66.47% of CCB but has been steadily accumulating CCB shares in the open market in recent weeks.  

Over at copper products maker Ta Win Holdings Bhd, its shareholder Asia Poly Holdings Bhd sold 12 million shares in the company on May 7 at an undisclosed price. Asia Poly, the largest producer of cast acrylic sheet in Malaysia, is now left with 44.1 million shares or 5.17% in Ta Win.

On the day of the share disposal, Ta Win’s share price closed at 15.5 sen, down sharply from a one-year peak of 44 sen, recorded exactly a month earlier.

Asia Poly’s major shareholder is Datuk Yeo Boon Leong, who is also chairman and non-executive director of Ta Win.

Notable movements

A-Rank Bhd, whose shares have been actively traded since April 8, registered another large trade when its chairman Shahrir Abdul Jalil sold 140,000 shares in three blocks on the open market on May 10 at a price range of 73.5 sen to 77 sen. Consequently, he ceased to be a shareholder in the aluminium billets maker.

Shahrir had acquired the shares at 46 sen each a few days earlier on May 5, having exercised his option under an employee share option scheme (ESOS). Executive director Gan Choon Sun disposed of 100,000 shares on May 5 at 80 sen each after acquiring the ESOS shares on May 3. Gan continues, however, to hold a marginal 0.244% stake (421,680 shares) in the Main Market-listed company.

A-Rank’s stock has gained 63% over a year to 66 sen on May 18, peaking at 78.5 sen on May 7.

Over at White Horse Bhd, Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd ceased to be a substantial shareholder on May 6 after disposing of 505,100 shares on the open market. Ministry of Finance-owned Urusharta had been steadily disposing of shares in the maker of ceramic wall and floor tiles since last May. On May 5, 2020, it held as much as a 9.84% stake, or 22.4 million shares. The share price has been on a downtrend since hitting this year’s peak of 70.5 sen on April 14, shedding 14.6% to close at 61.5 sen on May 18.