The prices at which the shares crossed were about a 30% discount to Scomi Group’s trading price of 60 sen at the time of the deal. It is not known who acquired the equity interest as it was below the 5% substantial shareholding threshold, which requires disclosure. Initial findings, however, point to Middle Eastern funds snapping up the shares on the cheap.
After the acquisition, Scomi Group’s share price shot up, following news that its 71% unit, Scomi Engineering Bhd, was close to clinching a US$2.4 billion (RM8.5 billion) contract for the development of a monorail project in India. Scomi Group closed at 76 sen last Wednesday.
Menang Corp (M) Bhd also saw active off-market trading, with 8.7 million shares or about 3.3% of its share base changing hands in three block trades. About 1.8 million shares were done at 25 sen apiece, 6.3 million shares crossed at 8 sen each and another 603,000 shares were transacted at 12 sen per share on May 11 and 12.
Since hitting its 52-week low of 13.5 sen on March 12 this year, Menang Corp’s shares gained strongly to close at 24.5 sen last Wednesday.
Menang Corp’s mainstay is in property development. Its net assets per share as at end-2008 was 56.1 sen. It has been in the red for the last five years. Goh Kheng Peow, the controlling shareholder of Compugates Holdings Bhd, emerged as a substantial shareholder of Menang Corp in April.
Compugates, meanwhile, has also been actively traded. For the week in review, some 61.1 million shares were traded off market in direct and block trades at 11 to 15 sen apiece.
Despite the large number of shares crossing in off-market trades, it only amounted to about 2.9% of Compugates’ share base, which is about 2.1 billion shares.
Compugates hit its 52-week high of 18 sen on March 5 this year, while its low of 10 sen was on June 20 last year. It closed at 12.5 sen last Wednesday.
Some nine million shares, or a 2.9% stake, in plantation counter Kwantas Corp Bhd crossed off market at RM2.11 in a block trade.
Kwantas, which is controlled by the Kwan family, is generally illiquid, with the top six shareholders controlling about 75% of the company’s stock. The counter closed at RM2.24 last Wednesday, having gained about 24% since early April.
Plantation counters have been generally popular due to strong crude palm oil (CPO) prices, which are trading at about RM2,700 per tonne, close to a nine-month high.
On May 8, some 18.5 million shares in Alliance Financial Group Bhd crossed off market in a single block trade at RM2.25 per share, valuing the transaction at RM41.7 million. Alliance Financial Group closed at RM2.30 the same day.
The block that crossed represented only about 1.2% of Alliance Financial Group’s share spread. However, it is noteworthy that its shares have gained about 30% since late March.
Filings with Bursa Malaysia showed the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) aggressively accumulating shares in Alliance Financial Group. Until last week, the provident fund had a 13.7% stake or 212.4 million shares, compared with end-2008, when it had 11.6% equity interest or 179.7 million shares.
Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd has a 29.6% stake in Alliance Financial Group.
This article appeared in the Capital page, The Edge Malaysia, Issue 755, May 18-24, 2009.