IN the period of Oct 8 to 14, 471.99 million shares worth RM566.05 million were traded in blocks of at least 450,000 in off-market trades.
Sarawak Consolidated Industries (SCIB) saw a total of 19.39 million shares, equivalent to a 26.36% stake, change hands off market during this period.
Filings with Bursa Malaysia show that Sandakan-based entrepreneur Andrew Lim Nyuk Foh purchased a 23.47% stake in SCIB, a steel product manufacturer and property developer.
On Oct 10, the 50-year-old bought 13.24 million shares from Hydrostar Sdn , which is co-owned by SCIB group managing director Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad and spouse Datin Azlina Abdullah. Later, on Oct 13, Lim purchased another 4.04 million shares from Digital Network Sdn . Both sellers subsequently ceased to be substantial shareholders in SCIB.
While the filings did not reveal the price Lim paid for the shares, Bloomberg data shows that they were sold on Oct 10 at RM1.23 apiece, which was 14.95% higher than the market’s closing price of RM1.07 on the same day.
Last Wednesday, the stock fell 9.5 sen or 8.8% to close at 98.5 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM72.48 million. Despite the sharp fall, the counter has more than doubled in value from a year ago.
Over at Ni Hsin Resources , some 14.18 million shares or 6.14% equity interest was traded off market at 34 sen apiece on Oct 8. This was an 11.69% discount to the day’s closing price of 38.5 sen.
The cooking utensil manufacturer, which is rumoured to be a reverse takeover target of an oil and gas company, later announced to Bursa that its chairman Hsiao Chih Jen and his family members had sold Ni Hsin shares on the said date. Hsiao, executive director Hsiao Chih Che and managing director Hsiao Chih Chien disposed of 2.8 million shares each.
Meanwhile, Halex Holdings managing director and largest shareholder Yeoh Cheng Poh sold 12.84 million shares or a 12.12% stake in the agricultural chemical manufacturer on Oct 10. As at Jan 29, Yeoh had held a 15.44% stake in Halex.
He sold the shares via a married deal at 98 sen apiece, which was 13.95% higher than the day’s closing price of 86 sen. A filing reveals that the buyer was Solaris Cemerlang Sdn . In total, some 15.35% of Halex’s share base was traded off market during the period under review.
Yeoh’s disposal came on the heels of Halex Realty Sdn ’s plan to increase its stake in Kensington Development Sdn to 75% from 25%. Halex Realty is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Halex. The acquisition would require the latter to cough up RM32 million.
Halex’s net profit for the three quarters ended June 30, 2014 (9MFY2014) was RM1.76 million, 26.93% lower than that in the previous corresponding period. This was despite the flat revenue. The company said it will be prudent in implementing its business strategy going forward and is confident of achieving “an acceptable performance” for FY2014 in its agrochemical and healthcare disposable segments.
A total of 3.67 million shares or 3.32% equity interest in paper and packing material maker Versatile Creative was traded off market on Oct 14 at 55 sen each — a 9.09% discount to the day’s closing price. No filing was made on the shareholding change at press time.
Iris Corp , which failed in its attempt to take over loss-making Versatile Creative, has been paring down its stake in the company. According to the latest filing, Iris’ stake in Versatile Creative amounted to 39.59%.
This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on October 20 - 26, 2014.
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