KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 25): Private equity firm Creador has disposed of some 184.88 million shares in credit reporting agency CTOS Digital Bhd, which trimmed its stake to 31.596% from 40% previously.

The transaction was carried out on Wednesday (Feb 23) via Inodes Ltd, who held the shares for Creador, according to a stock exchange filing.

Following the sale of the 184.88 million shares, Inodes now holds about 695.12 million shares in CTOS Digital. It previously held 880 million shares.

The update from CTOS came after it on Wednesday (Feb 23) announced that Creador, through Inodes, had placed out 185 million CTOS shares at RM1.58 — the same issue price CTOS had just set for its proposed primary placement. At the time, CTOS said Inodes had reduced its stake to 30.1% from 40% after the placement — its first since CTOS' initial public offering (IPO) in July 2021.

Prior to CTOS' IPO, Creador held 1.6 billion CTOS shares, representing an 80% stake. CTOS was listed at RM1.10.

The placement news at the time accompanied CTOS' announcement that it had also reduced its proposed primary placement's size to 110 million shares representing 5% of its share base — as opposed to as much as 10% of its issued shares it had previously received shareholders' approval for to raise RM270 million, on an indicative price of RM1.63 each — to raise only RM173.8 million to fund future acquisitions. The smaller placement size is to optimise the amount of equity and debt to fund its acquisitions, CTOS said.

It also said at the time that the proposed placement had been oversubscribed, and that it was this strong demand for the placement that prompted Creador to place out its chunk of shares at the same price.

Proceeds of CTOS' placement would be used to partially fund the group's purchase of a 49% stake in fintech specialist Juris Technologies for RM205.8 million, with the balance to be funded through bank borrowings. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022.

At the closing bell, CTOS shares were up three sen or 1.92% to RM1.59 with some 3.2 million shares traded. The company is valued at RM3.5 billion. Year to date, the stock has declined 14.52% from when it was trading at RM1.86.