Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 8, 2019 - April 14, 2019

IN the period under review, noteworthy off-market trades included the sale of 12 million shares of Parkson Holdings Bhd at 25.5 sen apiece on March 27.

The seller was Tan Sri William Cheng Heng Jem, managing director and the single largest shareholder of Parkson. He is also chairman of diversified conglomerate Lion Group, which controls Parkson.

The sale leaves Cheng with a 26.89% direct stake. He also has an indirect holding of 32.43%, held via various Lion Group entities.

In the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2018, Parkson slipped deeper into the red with a quarterly net loss of RM37.6 million on revenue of RM1.05 billion.

The counter has retreated by 35.44% over the past 12 months. Last Wednesday, it closed at 26 sen, marking a 59.4% decline from its last peak of 64 sen in July 2018.

On April 1, AppAsia Bhd saw 15 million shares or a 4.2% stake change hands at a deep discount in a direct off-market transaction.

The buyer of the ICT firm’s shares was executive director Toh Hong Chye, whose acquisitions in the period under review bumped his direct holding to 46.47 million shares or 13.45%. He also bought 4.25 million AppAsia warrants, which represents 3.13% of the company’s total outstanding warrants.

Data shows that Toh paid three sen per AppAsia share on April 1, a deep discount to its closing price of 10 sen on March 29.

The share price of AppAsia, formerly known as Extol MSC Bhd, has declined by 57.8% over the past 12 months. It last peaked at 27.5 sen on May 3. Last Wednesday, the stock closed at 9.5 sen.

Toh is also executive chairman of paints and industrial chemicals company Sersol Bhd and executive director of property manager Pegasus Heights Bhd.

On March 21, he raised his stake in Pegasus Heights by 1.7%, or 30 million shares at one sen apiece, to 9.01%. Thus far, in 2019, he has bumped up his stake to 163.68 million shares, or 9.01%, from 116.03 million shares previously.

Separately, Pegasus Heights saw 19 million shares or a 1.1% stake traded off market at one sen apiece on April 2. At the time of writing, the buyer was still not known.

Over at MSCM Holdings Bhd, formerly known as PanPages Bhd, 6.5 million shares or a 2.4% block was traded off market at 25 sen per share on April 2.

Regulatory filings show the buyer to be Lim Peng Tong. He had just emerged as a new substantial shareholder in the company the week before.

The transacted price is a slight premium to the counter’s last traded price of 24 sen on April 2. The counter has had a roller-coaster year and has declined 2.04% over the past 12 months.

Lim’s latest acquisitions in the period under review raised his holding in MSCM Holdings to 29.35 million shares or 11.06%. He remains the second largest shareholder in the company behind MMAG Holdings Bhd, which has a 26.37% stake.

Also transacted off market in the period under review were 24 million shares or a 3.8% stake in Straits Inter Logistics Bhd. The transactions were done at 25.5 sen per share.

Shares of the water filter manufacturer have yielded a 20% return to investors over the past 12 months.

It is noteworthy that the counter rallied sharply by 27.3%, from 22 sen on Feb 13 to as high as 28 sen on April 2.

At the time of writing, it is unclear who undertook the transactions. However, it is worth noting that managing director Datuk Seri Ho Kam Choy has been actively adding to his direct stake this year.

Ho’s direct holding rose from 27.14 million shares or 4.85% to 33.15 million shares or 5.31% between Jan 1 and March 29. However, his indirect stake fell slightly over the same period, from 7.65% (42.79 million shares) to 6.83%.

 

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