This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 28, 2020 - January 3, 2021
WHO would have thought that there would be a global pandemic in 2020? Covid-19 was an unforeseen risk that impacted many — some for the better, some for the worse.
Retail investors, no doubt, have been a major reason for the stock market rally in 2020. Soon after the heavy sell-off triggered by the oil price slump in March, retail participation has been picking up traction, attributable to the six-month loan moratorium measure as well as the work-from-home model when the Movement Control Order began on March 18.
Of course, the low-interest-rate environment created by the easy monetary policy response to the pandemic also prompted investors to look for investments with better returns.
Compared with barely 24.5% in 2019, retail participation was exceptionally high at 45.9% in the first half of August, owing to ample market liquidity.
This was a phenomenon not seen on the local bourse for over a decade. Note that retail participation peaked at 59% in 1999, and dipped to a low of 21% in 2016.
A record-breaking trading volume of 27.8 billion shares was recorded on Aug 11.
Stocks favoured by retail investors included those from the industrial products and services, healthcare, technology, consumer and energy sectors.
Looking at the profile of retail investors, 36% are millennials, 61% are above 40 years old, and 3% belong to other groups (below 25 years old, nominee accounts and so on), according to HLIB Research. Gender-wise, males make up 71% of retail investors. By ethnicity, the Chinese comprise 70% of retail investors while bumiputeras are close to 30%, from just 20% two years ago.
No doubt, the advent of mobile trading platforms also spurred young and new investors stuck at home to tap into the market. E-broker Rakuten Trade, for example, saw new account openings triple to 145,000 by end-October from the start of the year.
As at Dec 11, retail investors were net buyers on Bursa Malaysia to the tune of RM13.14 billion, higher than local institutions’ RM11.16 billion, according to MIDF Research.
Meanwhile, foreign investors’ net selling has reached RM24.8 billion. — By Lee Weng Khuen
Founder and executive chairman
Top Glove Corp Bhd
Well, this is an obvious one, isn’t it? Prominent glove tycoon Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai saw the company he founded in 1991, together with his wife Puan Sri Tong Siew Bee, becoming the biggest direct beneficiary of the Covid-19 pandemic, before his factories in Klang became the country’s largest coronavirus cluster in the later part of the year.
Lim is ranked 14th on Forbes’ 2020 Rich List for Malaysia. The superb share price performance of Top Glove Corp Bhd this year has greatly increased his fortunes. His current net worth has ballooned to US$4.3 billion (or RM17.44 billion), as compared to US$1.05 billion (or RM4.263 billion) about a year ago.
As investors rushed to buy rubber glove stocks, Top Glove saw its market capitalisation more than quadruple to RM51.4 billion on Dec 15 this year, up from RM12.03 billion on Dec 31, 2019.
Notably, Lim had in September declared publicly that Top Glove’s market capitalisation could overtake that of Malayan Banking Bhd — the country’s biggest bank by assets — to become the largest listed company on Bursa Malaysia by end-September or early October.
His bold prediction did not come true.
While Top Glove remains highly profitable — recording its highest quarterly net profit of RM2.38 billion in the first quarter ended Nov 30, 2020 (1QFY2021) — the group has been under immense pressure over the last few months.
First, Top Glove’s dormitories in Meru, Klang, were identified as a new epicentre of infections, as the majority of those affected in the Teratai Cluster were the company’s foreign workers.
As a result, an Enhanced Movement Control Order was imposed at its dormitories, while its factories in Klang were ordered to close in stages to facilitate Covid-19 screening for over 5,000 employees.
To make things worse, Top Glove is also under scrutiny for the way it handles the workers’ housing and welfare issues. The group was urged by the government and non-governmental organisations to improve the living quarters and living conditions of its foreign workers.
In December, the Ministry of Human Resources opened 19 investigation papers against six companies related to Top Glove, following enforcement operations in five states, namely Perak, Kedah, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan and Johor, amid the spread of Covid-19 in the Teratai Cluster.
On Dec 12, Top Glove reported the death of a 29-year-old worker from Nepal due to Covid-19 pneumonia with lung fibrosis.
Meanwhile, it was also reported that Top Glove had fired a whistle-blower who took two photos in May of fellow employees crowding into a factory before the virus outbreak.
On the corporate front, Lim also hogged the limelight as he mopped up shares of Top Glove at a time when the Employees Provident Fund continued to trim its stake in the company.
Besides Lim, two other parties that were also mopping up shares in the world’s largest rubber glove maker on the open market were Tropicana Corp Bhd and Top Glove itself. Lim is also the chairman and substantial shareholder of Tropicana. — By Liew Jia Teng
Deputy chairman
AirAsia X Bhd
Datuk Lim Kian Onn had planned to retire this year, but the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to his plans. In June, he had passed the baton to his son, Gareth Lim Tze Xiang, at ECM Libra Group Bhd.
Effective June 1, Gareth was appointed CEO and redesignated as executive director while Kian Onn, who was managing director, became a non-independent and non-executive director. He remained a director of AirAsia X Bhd (AAX), in which he is an original shareholder with a small stake, but he did not hold an active management role.
Four months in, however, he was thrust into the spotlight when he emerged to take charge of a controversial debt restructuring proposed for AAX. The airline wants to reconstitute RM63.5 billion worth of debts, including future lease rentals, aircraft purchase commitments and advanced ticket sales, into a principal amount of up to RM200 million. Kian Onn was redesignated as deputy chairman, from director, in October, to lead the colossal restructuring which depends on the support of creditors, a few of whom are objecting to the massive haircut they are being asked to take.
AAX — whose business model is anchored on mid- to long-distance flights outside Malaysia — has been hit hard by Covid-19 as intercountry travel came to a grinding halt for most of this year.
As at Sept 30, AAX’s cash pile had declined to RM138.82 million, down from RM252.04 million in the preceding quarter.
For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2020, AAX’s net loss widened to RM1.16 billion, about three times the RM393.67 million a year earlier as revenue fell 66% to RM1.08 billion.
The writing was on the wall — AAX’s days were numbered and, clearly, something had to be done to try to save the airline.
Saving AAX in the current turbulent conditions seems like a herculean task, but that is not stopping Lim and the AAX team from giving it a go in hopes that the airline can fly high again.
A chartered accountant, he had worked at the Hong Leong Group and founded the Libra Capital Group in 1994 and co-founded the ECM Libra Group in 2002.
Kian Onn is an old hand when it comes to restructuring exercises. The seasoned dealmaker’s last restructuring was 18 years ago, when he led the restructuring of Technology Resources Industries Bhd and Celcom — one of the largest such exercises at that time, right after the Asian financial crisis.
Can he pull it off again with AAX? — By Joyce Goh
Deputy group executive chairman of Chin Hin Group Bhd
Former substantial shareholder of Rubberex Corp (M) Bhd
Datuk Seri Chiau Beng Teik surfaced as a substantial shareholder of Rubberex Corp (M) Bhd with a stake of 13.63% on May 15. It was reported that his entry cost was around RM1.23 per share.
Chiau is deputy group executive chairman of Chin Hin Group Bhd and non-executive chairman of Chin Hin Group Property Bhd (CHGP).
The 58-year-old, who started out as a building materials trader in Kedah in the 1970s, today heads a mini business empire and has major equity stakes in Chin Hin, CHGP and Solarvest Holdings Bhd.
Chiau and his eldest son Haw Choon also took over a company, Boon Koon Group Bhd, a Penang-based manufacturer of rebuilt commercial vehicles, in 2017. Boon Koon was then renamed CHGP to better reflect its corporate identity after it diversified into property development.
Notably, Chiau, who had already purchased some minority stakes in Rubberex earlier, was the sole subscriber of the private placement shares, whose issue price was fixed at RM1.23 each in May. Assuming that he acquired those shares also at RM1.23, his total entry cost would be about RM46.51 million.
But what was perplexing was that Chiau was willing to let go of his Rubberex shares at RM1.80 per share, which was a steep discount to the market price, to Datuk Eddie Ong Choo Meng and his private vehicle in June. — By Liew Jia Teng
Chairman and chief executive of Genting Bhd and Genting Malaysia Bhd
Executive chairman of Genting Singapore Ltd
Chairman and CEO of Genting Hong Kong Ltd
Many, including Genting group boss Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay and his late father Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, who founded the gaming empire, would not have imagined that the roulette wheels would stop spinning and no cards would be dealt at the gaming tables for more than three months.
All the casinos owned by the Genting group in six countries were shut down concurrently for months due to the respective governments’ measures to curb the Covid-19 pandemic. This was unprecedented in the history of the global gaming industry. The hilltop Genting casino has only been closed once — for half a day when Goh Tong died.
Geographic diversification is not an effective mitigation in this unprecedented global outbreak.
Genting Hong Kong Ltd (Gent HK), Asia’s largest cruise operator, fell victim to the pandemic, although its sister companies managed to survive on the buffers that were built during their heyday.
Gent HK had to temporarily suspend payments to creditors to preserve cash in order to sustain itself as a going concern. This drew unwanted attention to Kok Thay.
Some view that his venture into the cruise business has been a rough journey for over two decades. That investment has yet to prove a good bet.
The unfortunate scenario buried the positive news that the Genting group, through Genting Singapore Ltd, had been invited to submit its bid for a casino licence in Japan.
Adding to his woes was news from Hong Kong that sparked concern that other companies in the Genting group were being used to salvage Gent HK, given its past track record.
In 1999, Genting Malaysia Bhd (GENM), which was then known as Resorts World Bhd, participated in a massive recapitalisation exercise of the cruise operator, then known as Star Cruises Ltd. Only a year ago, GENM emerged as a white knight, buying a 46% stake in cash-strapped Empire Resorts Inc from Kok Thay and injecting fresh capital into it after the acquisition. The equity stake was sold to GENM for US$128 million cash. — By Kathy Fong
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