This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 29, 2016.

Kuala Lumpur: Tan Sri Dr Chen Lip Keong intends to take both Karambunai Corp Bhd (KCB) and Petaling Tin Bhd private — a move that will cost him RM166 million.

The gaming tycoon is taking KCB — a company that has been said to be lobbying for a casino licence in Sabah for many years — at five sen per share and two sen per warrant. KCB owns a golf resort in Karambunai, Sabah, and a country club in Bangi, Selangor.

The offer price is 10% below yesterday’s closing of 5.5 sen.

In the filing with Bursa Malaysia, KCB said Dr Chen’s (who currently controls a 68.46% stake in the company) offer is not conditional upon any minimum level of acceptances of the offer shares as the tycoon holds more than 50% of the voting shares in the company. He does not intend to maintain the listing status of KCB, the announcement said.

Dr Chen, among Malaysia’s top 30 richest men, has been the president and non-independent executive director of KCB since 1991. The company has been loss-making since 2001, except in 2007.

Over at Petaling Tin, Dr Chen has launched a mandatory general offer (MGO) to buy out shares he and persons acting in concert do not own after he bought some 133.24 million shares, or 38.53% stake. The share purchase bumped up his stake from 26.45% to 65.07%, which triggers the threshold for a MGO.

The persons acting in concert are Dr Chen’s spouse Puan Sri Lee Chou Sarn, and his three sons, Chen Yiy Hwuan, Chen Yiy Fon and Chen Yepern.

The offer price of 24 sen per share represents a 7.7% discount to the counter’s five-day volume weighted average market prices of 26 sen.

The property company posted a net loss of RM4.62 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2015 (FY15) from RM6.07 million the year before. The company has been registering net losses since 2013.

Dr Chen made his fortune in the casino in Phnom Penh which is housed under the Hong Kong-listed entity, Naga Corp Ltd.

In a contrast to KCB and Petaling Tin, Naga Corp is making good money in Phnom Penh. For FY15, the casino operator posted a net profit of US$172.6 million (RM673 million) compared with US$136 million.