KUALA LUMPUR: Sagajuta (Sabah) Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk Raymond Chan Boon Siew has surfaced in timber manufacturing firm Harvest Court Industries Bhd. He has acquired a substantial 13.85% stake from parties linked to the latter’s managing director Ng Swee Kiat.

This confirms The Edge Financial Daily’s report yesterday that Chan had acquired about 23.8 million shares or 13.85% equity interest in Harvest Court in several off-market trades.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Harvest Court announced that Chan had on Oct 18 acquired the shares, which were crossed at 20 sen a piece, for a total consideration of about RM4.76 million.

Chan appears to have purchased the shares from parties linked to Ng, who now holds a direct 4.8% stake in Harvest Court and an indirect interest of 4.68% following the transactions.

Filings show that Ng’s wife Yang Peing Nan and his vehicle Port Klang Jetty Sdn Bhd had disposed of 10.54 million shares and two million shares respectively at 20 sen a piece.
Ahead of the deal, Harvest Court’s shares have seen a significant spike in price and trading volumes since last Friday.

The thinly-traded counter’s share price surged 200% from 8.5 sen on Oct 13 to 25.5 sen on Oct 18, the day Chan bought into Harvest Court.
Yesterday, Harvest Court closed up three sen at 28.5 sen with a volume of 37.36 million shares traded.

This is a stark contrast to the previous performance of the counter, which has generally seen low volumes of trade at between 7.5 sen and 15 sen over the past 12 months, excluding the recent deal.

Ng, meanwhile, submitted the proposal of a put option agreement yesterday to take up Affin Bank’s entire block of 31.41 million shares together with the 7.85 million warrants in Harvest Court for 20 sen per share.

According to the filing, Ng’s proposal is still pending approval from Affin Bank, which holds an 18.37% stake in Harvest Court, according to Bloomberg data.
At an offer price of 20 sen per share, Ng would have to fork out about RM6.28 million for Affin Bank’s stake in Harvest Court.

For now, Chan’s emergence in Harvest Court has re-ignited speculation as to whether he will eventually inject Sagajuta, a Sabah-based property development company, into Harvest Court.

Chan, a Sabah-based businessman, is currently developing the flagship 1Borneo mixed development project in Kota Kinabalu which has a gross development value of RM1.2 billion.

Chan’s vehicle, Generasi Cipta Sdn Bhd which owns 60% of Sagajuta, was previously in talks with Jerneh Asia Bhd for a proposed sale of Sagajuta to Jerneh Asia.
However, the discussions recently fell through after both parties failed to reach an agreement over definitive terms.

Chan’s discussions with Jerneh Asia were said to be a reverse takeover of the latter, which has been on the lookout for a new core business after disposing of its 80% stake in its insurance arm, Jerneh Insurance Bhd.