(This update corrects our earlier report which wrongly stated that Hartalega’s founder Kuan Kam Hon together with his sons Kuan Mun Keng and Kuan Mun Leong are the major holders of the ESOS).  

KUALA LUMPUR (July 17): Much has been written about the significant rise in the net worth of the founders of glove manufacturing companies in the wake of the strong demand for their products amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now, the employees of one of the glove makers, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, are seen to be raking in a fortune too.

With the surge in the price of Hartalega’s shares, the employees are seen to be capitalising on their share options entitlement.

In its Bursa Malaysia filings today, the glove maker said under the employee share option scheme (ESOS), its employees have opted to convert some 39.63 million share options into Hartalega shares.

The average conversion price for the converted share options is RM3.16 per option, giving a total value of RM125.4 million.

Based on Hartalega’s closing price of RM17.10 today, which is more than five times the conversion price, the employees stand to rake in about RM552.31 million.

For the less patient Hartalega staff that chose to convert their ESOS units at the start of the year, when Hartalega’s share price stood at RM5.46, they would have made RM461.32 million less.

The ESOS had commenced in 2015, after a previous programme from 2010 to 2015.

“The second ESOS programme, which is currently ongoing, commenced in 2015 and was extended to non-executive level employees, making Hartalega one of the few companies in Malaysia to do so,” said a spokesperson for Hartalega.

Hartalega’s founder Kuan Kam Hon and his sons, Kuan Mun Keng and Kuan Mun Leong, hold 14.77 million units or 7.4% of the 199.15 million outstanding ESOS, the spokesperson said.

The remaining units are held by the group’s management (30.9%), executive level employees (30%) and non-executive level employees (31.6%).