KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 21): Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd’s Koon brothers have offloaded 123.59 million shares off-market, representing a 1.5% stake in the company, for RM605.59 million, local bourse filings showed.

The shares were sold on Tuesday (Oct 18) at RM4.90 apiece, according to the group's filings with Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday.

At the time of writing on Friday, the share price of the largest aluminium smelting and extrusion company in Southeast Asia was one sen lower at RM4.38, giving it a market capitalisation of RM36.09 billion.

The shares were sold by the five Koon brothers, namely group chief executive officer Tan Sri Koon Poh Keong (51.59 million), executive vice-chairman Koon Poh Ming (20 million), and executive directors Koon Poh Weng (30 million), Datuk Koon Poh Tat (17 million), and Koon Poh Kong (five million).

This is the second time within two months the Koon brothers have sold their shares.

On Sept 7, Poh Ming, Poh Tat and Poh Weng sold a collective eight million shares, also at RM4.90 per share, for RM39.2 million.

In total, the major shareholders have sold a collective 1.597% stake in Press Metal between Sept 7 and Oct 18. Total issued shares in the group stood at 8.24 billion.

This leaves the brothers with a collective direct stake of 16.9% in Press Metal, and an indirect stake of 38.91% — including Poh Keong’s deemed interest in Alpha Milestone Sdn Bhd, which holds a 34% stake in the listed entity.

Shares in Press Metal, which has operations in Malaysia and China, have come off their peak of RM7.22 on March 4, in tandem with the drop in aluminium prices in the commodity markets.

For the six months ended June 30, 2022 (1HFY2022), the group saw its net profit rise 80% to RM830.19 million, from RM461.3 million a year ago. Earnings per share stood at 10.18 sen, from 5.71 sen for 1HFY2021. Revenue rose 67.21% to RM7.93 billion, from RM4.74 billion.