KUALA LUMPUR (March 2): Prominent businessman Tan Sri Chua Ma Yu has emerged as a substantial shareholder of Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB), after acquiring a 6.05% equity interest in the non-bank lender.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, MBSB disclosed Chua had on Monday acquired a 3.76% (106.67 million shares) direct stake and a 2.3% (65.23 million shares) indirect stake in the company.
This is not the first time Chua has acquired shares in MBSB. In the group’s 2013 annual report, the 63-year-old’s name appears in the list of 30 largest shareholders via three pledged securities accounts, having a collective interest of 1.61% as at Feb 28, 2014.
That was slightly more than four months before Bank Negara gave the greenlight for CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, RHB Capital Bhd, and MBSB to commence discussions on a possible merger.
Even before that, Chua was no stranger to Malaysia's corporate scene, since the days when he co-founded Rashid Hussain Securities and later, RHB Capital.
MBSB fell one sen or 0.75% to RM1.32 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM3.75 billion.