KUALA LUMPUR (June 21): The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has further trimmed its stake in Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd, which is embroiled in audit issues with its external auditor KPMG PLT.
The provident fund sold an additional 15.06 million shares, or a 0.4% stake, on the open market on June 15, according to the company's filing today.
In total, the EPF had sold 17.12 million shares between June 2 and June 15, leaving it with 351.73 million shares or 9.48%.
Serba Dinamik also announced today that its former chairman Datuk Mohamed Nor Abu Bakar has resigned as its independent director, days after he was redesignated from the chairman's position.
Mohamed Nor's resignation as Serba Dinamik's non-executive director was due to personal reasons. The resignation took effect on June 19 (last Saturday), the company said.
Prior to his redesignation, he served as chairman of the oil and gas services provider from May 31, 2016.
Serba Dinamik's key institutional shareholders have cut their stake in the company since late last month, in light of the audit issues flagged by KPMG, involving transactions and bills worth over RM4 billion for the 12-month period ended Dec 31, 2020.
Kumpulan Wang Persaraan Diperbadankan, which had a 5.2% stake in Serba Dinamik, ceased to be a substantial shareholder as at June 1 after disposing of 26.18 million shares or 0.7% between May 31 and June 1.
This occurred while Serba Dinamik's two largest shareholders were buying further into the company. Serba Dinamik founder and group chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah had since raised his stake to 27.07% as of May 31.
Meanwhile, Datuk Abdul Kadier Sahib raised his stake to 16.25% as of June 4. The non-independent non-executive director had proposed to remove KPMG as an auditor, but called off the proposal amid heavy selling on the counter after the news.
Serba Dinamik is currently in the midst of an independent review to verify KPMG's claims. The company appointed three new independent directors, including Datuk Mohamed Ilyas Pakeer Mohamed as the new chairman of the company.
Shares of Serba Dinamik closed down 2.5 sen or 4% to 60 sen, valuing the group at RM2.22 billion. The company has lost as much as RM3.76 billion in market capitalisation since the audit news came about.