This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 14, 2022 - February 20, 2022

BCM Alliance Bhd should be transparent about its recent employee share option scheme (ESOS) exercise that was offered to only two employees. Why only those two and what roles do they hold in the company?

Filings with Bursa Malaysia show that the two, Kiu Cu Seng and Cheng Li Ping, emerged as the largest shareholders of BCM Alliance after exercising their share options. They exercised a total of 469 million share options at 2.91 sen apiece — a 17% discount to the closing price of 3.5 sen on Jan 17, when the offer was made. The stock closed at 3 sen on Feb 8.

Kiu exercised some 305.12 million option shares, giving him a 15% stake in BCM, which makes him the largest shareholder in the commercial laundry equipment supplier. Cheng exercised 164.29 million option shares for an 8.08% stake.

It is unclear what their roles in BCM Alliance are.

However, Kiu’s name has appeared in the filings of Energem Corp as its chief financial officer, and according to the Nasdaq-listed blank-cheque company’s prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, he served as group accountant for BCM Alliance and other Malaysian public- listed companies including Sanichi Technology Bhd and Trive Property Group Bhd.

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