This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 22, 2017 - May 28, 2017

Notable filings

SINGAPORE-based Catcha Group Pte Ltd disposed of 3.84 million shares or a 2.9% stake in Rev Asia Bhd for RM105 million two days after the latter entered into a landmark deal with Media Prima Bhd on May 8 to sell its advertising and social media business, which is parked under Rev Asia Holdings Sdn Bhd.

Catcha Group Pte Ltd is the largest shareholder of Rev Asia Bhd. Meanwhile, Rev Asia Bhd has a 70% stake in Rev Asia Holdings, with the remaining 30% held by Youth Asia Sdn Bhd.

Rev Asia Bhd will be classified as a “Cash Company” on completion of the proposed sale, for which it will receive RM73.5 million. The counter has surged 91.1% since early this year, closing at 96.5 sen just before the announcement of the sale on May 5. It retreated to 72.5 sen last Thursday.

Over at Media Prima, one of its largest foreign institutional shareholders, Morgan Stanley & Co LLC, has increased its stake in the media company. Before the announcement of the acquisition of Rev Asia Holdings, Morgan Stanley had accumulated 353,000 shares over four days from May 2. It then increased its holding by another 577,000 shares on May 9, giving it a 5.2% stake in total.

Media Prima’s share price has been on a slight downward trend, falling 5.2% year to date as at May 9. However, the counter’s trading volume of 7.3 million on that day was more than five times its average volume of 1.3 million in the past year.

Elsewhere, Choo Bee Metal Industries Bhd saw Lembaga Tabung Haji cease to be its substantial shareholder on May 3, after disposing of a total of 2.1 million shares since April 28. Bloomberg data shows that Lembaga Tabung Haji had been one of Choo Bee’s substantial shareholders since 2007, with an average entry cost of RM1.48.

The Ipoh-based flat steel product manufacturer has seen a recovery in its share price since last year. Choo Bee has been trading range bound between RM2.10 and RM2.19 since Lembaga Tabung Haji first started selling its shares on April 28.

Notable movements

Investor and philanthropist Koon Yew Yin has been raising his stake in Eversendai Corp Bhd, adding 6.8 million shares between May 2 and May 4. Following the acquisition, he is the second largest shareholder in Eversendai with a 6.8% stake, behind Vahana Holdings Sdn Bhd — a private vehicle owned by the construction group’s founder, Tan Sri Nathan Elumalay. Filings with Bursa Malaysia show that the average transacted price was 95.5 sen.

Interestingly, Eversendai reached a one-year high of RM1.02 on May 4 on trading volume of 15.7 million — about five times its one-year average of 3.2 million. The share price, however, had fallen back to below 90 sen on May 16 and closed lower at 85.5 sen on May 18.

Meanwhile, Fajarbaru Builder Group Bhd’s single largest shareholder, Datin Lai Mooi Far, disposed of three million shares on the open market on May 9. On that day, Fajarbaru had been trading at between 87.5 sen and 91.5 sen.

A May 15 filing shows that Lai sold another 3.9 million shares on the open market on May 12, reducing her stake to 8.15%. The disposal was done near Fajarbaru’s one-year high price range. The construction group, which has been on investors’ radar screen since early February, saw its share price rise 63.7% to 92.5 sen last Thursday.

Comintel Corp Bhd chairman Tan Sri Samshuri Arshad disposed of 390,000 shares at 82.3 sen on the open market on May 12. Samshuri had previously disposed of two blocks of shares, totalling 400,000 shares, on April 26 and May 2 at 81.9 sen and 80.5 sen apiece respectively.

Following that, the share price of the engineering and technology group has been on an upward trend, rising 5.5% from its closing price of 82 sen on April 26. The stock has increased 18.3% year to date as at May 18.

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play.