KUALA LUMPUR (April 3): Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand)’s application for a six-month extension to comply with its approved public shareholding spread requirement of 20% was rejected by Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd.

In a bourse filing on Monday (April 3), the property and hospitality outfit said that its public shareholding spread stood at 13.76% as at end-March this year, a shortfall of 6.24% or 307 million shares.

BLand’s largest shareholder is Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp), which directly owns 418.1 million shares or an 8.45% stake, and another 3.56 billion shares or 72.43% via various subsidiaries.

“In view that the extension of time was not approved by Bursa Securities, Bursa Securities may take or impose any type of action or penalty pursuant to Paragraphs 16.02 and 16.19 (which includes caution letter, reprimand, trading of securities suspension, and others) of the Main Market Listing Requirements of Bursa Securities,” the group said.

“In addition, Bursa Securities has directed BLand to rectify the shortfall of its approved public shareholding spread requirement of 20% on or before Sept 30, 2023,” it added.

BLand assured that it will comply and take necessary steps to rectify the shortfall by the deadline, adding that an announcement on the compliance will be made in due course.

Bursa Securities had in September last year granted BLand a six-month extension to comply with its public shareholding requirement, pushing the deadline to March 22 this year.

Last week, BCorp founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun disposed of 3.83 million shares in BLand via Berjaya Bright Sdn Bhd, dropping his deemed interest to 245.87 million shares or 4.997%, while his direct stake remained at 58.75 million or 1.194%.

It is worth noting that on Jan 25, Tan’s total stake in BCorp fell below 20%. This resulted in the conglomerate’s shareholding in BLand being no longer considered as his deemed interest. At end-March, Tan directly held a 7.51% stake in BCorp, and an indirect stake of 9.3%.

At the noon break, shares in BLand stood unchanged at 27 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM1.35 billion.