KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 26): Shares in Media Prima Bhd rose 7.2% or six sen higher to 82 sen this morning, after global financial services firm Morgan Stanley Group acquired more shares in the media company.

According to Bloomberg, trading volume was high, with some 12.21 million shares done at 10.57am. Earlier this morning, the group’s share price peaked at 83 sen.

Media Prima said in its filing with the bourse yesterday that Morgan Stanley had acquired 755,000 shares in Media Prima, bringing its total shareholding in the media company to approximately 88.84 million or equivalent to 8% direct interest.

The total number of shares is split between Morgan Stanley & Co LLC which owns 200,000 shares and Morgan Stanley & Co International PLC, with the remaining 88.64 million.

“For Media Prima, as it is a mid-cap company, there is a potential for further uptrend in its share price. This is expected, especially when a foreign company keeps buying shares in a local company,” a remisier, who declined to be quoted, told theedgemarkets.com. 

At its current share price, Media Prima is valued at RM881.81 million.

Elaborating on this, the remisier said the allocation for small- and mid-cap public-listed companies (PLCs) announced in the Budget 2017 could be a driver behind Morgan Stanley’s interest in Media Prima.

At the tabling of the Budget 2017, Prime Minister Datuk Sri Najib Razak said the government will introduce a small- and mid-cap PLC Research scheme, while government-linked investment companies will set aside a special fund up to RM3 billion to Securities Commission-backed fund managers, to invest in potential small- and mid-cap companies.

These allocations would also enable and make it easier for local institutions, retail investors, as well as foreign funds, to invest in these companies.