KUALA LUMPUR (April 1): The co-founder and former executive director of Aimflex Bhd (formerly known as i-Stone), Chan Kok San, has emerged as a substantial shareholder of Bintai Kinden Corporation Bhd via the acquisition of a 6.55% stake in the engineering service group.

The stake, comprising 25 million shares, was acquired at 50 sen per share in an off-market transaction today, the group said in a statement.

Bintai Kinden said Chan has more than 18 years of experience in the electrical and electronics industry, concentrating on specialised automation machines.

He began his career in Flextronics Technology (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd in 2002 as a test development engineer and in 2004 he joined Dyson Manufacturing Sdn Bhd as its senior electronics engineer where he was involved in the design and development of electronic circuits and printed circuit board assembly.

In 2006, Chan left Dyson Manufacturing to pursue his own business venture and cofounded Univeztron Technology Pte Ltd in Singapore with two partners, and the three of them again joined forces to co-found I-Stone in 2007. He acted as the group's executive director before resigning from the board on Dec 31, 2020.

Bintai Kinden executive vice-chairman Ibrahim Othman said the group, which is on a business transformation plan to reposition its business activities to create new sources of income in view of fluctuations seen in its core mechanical and electrical engineering business, is thrilled to welcome Chan as a strategic shareholder.

Ibrahim, who was appointed as Bintai Kinden's independent non-executive director and subsequently promoted as executive vice-chairman on March 17, recently acquired 500,000 Bintai Kinden shares from the open market at 47 sen per share.  

“Investing in Bintai Kinden is a long-term business strategy as I see value in the company," he said. “There is a huge potential as the company announced its venture into healthcare last year and further diversifying its portfolio into mixed property development and management projects, which is focused on providing comprehensive healthcare and wellness services as well as assisted living.”  

Shares of Bintai Kinden closed 1.5 sen or 3.19% lower at 46 sen today, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM173 million.