KUALA LUMPUR (April 24): Datuk Anthony See Teow Guan, 69, has retired as an executive director (ED) of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd.

The company’s filing with Bursa Malaysia today showed See’s retirement was due to his non re-election as ED at its annual general meeting today.

“He therefore ceased to be an executive director of the company accordingly,” read the announcement.

See, who holds a 1.56% stake in Kian Joo and whose father founded the company some 40 years ago, had previously filed a lawsuit against several parties to prevent Kian Joo’s major shareholder Can-One Bhd from voting for the sale of Kian Joo to Aspire Insight Sdn Bhd for RM1.47 billion cash or RM3.30 per share.

See had claimed Aspire’s offer to Kian Joo is deemed a related party transaction, because of the connections between Kian Joo managing director Yeoh Jin Hoe and Kian Joo chief operating officer Chee Khay Leong, and Can One, as well as Chee’s connection to Aspire.

Aspire is a joint venture between the Employees Provident Fund and Chee. Yeoh is a controlling shareholder of Can-One, while Chee is Can-One's former COO — a position from which he resigned a few days before the offer was made by Aspire.

The suit was later struck out by the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

In a separate filing today, Kian Joo also said the former regent of Negri Sembilan Tunku Naquiyuddin Ibni Tuanku Ja’afar, 68, had retired from his post as the company’s non-independent and non-executive chairman.

Kian Joo (fundamental : 1; valuation: 0.9) shares closed up 2 sen or 0.66% today at RM3.06, with a market capitalisation of RM1.35 billion.

(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.)