KUALA LUMPUR (May 20): Tycoon Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng’s Malayan United Industries Bhd (MUI) is appealing against the Securities Commission’s (SC) decision to reject a change in controlling shareholder of its listed subsidiary, Pan Malaysia Holdings Bhd.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, MUI (fundamental: 0.95; valuation: 0.9) said it had submitted a notice to SC today, informing the regulator of its intention to appeal against the SC’s decision to block the change of shareholder in PMH.

Last Monday (May 11), the SC wrote to PM Securities Sdn Bhd to inform the latter' application for change of shareholding in PMH, as a result of share sales, has been rejected.

MUI had in December, announced several of its subsidiaries would collectively sell 642.7 million shares or 69.19% stake in PMH to Datuk Dr Yu Kuan Chon, who is the controlling shareholder of YNH Property Bhd, for RM77.12 million or 12 sen per share.

The news had propelled PMH’s share price from 11 sen on Dec 12 to 14-year high of 51.5 sen on Dec 29, in a span of less than three weeks. However, its share price has drifted lower since then, due to delay in the completion of share sale. The stock closed at 28.5 sen today.

Over at MUI, it's share price is also heading south from 32 sen at the start of the year, to 21 sen today.

Khoo holds a 47.7% stake in MUI, which owns and operates nine hotels and two restaurants in the UK and two hotels in Malaysia, most of which operate under the “Corus” brand.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)