This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 23, 2023 - January 29, 2023

During the week of Jan 9 to 13, among the notable changes in companies publicly traded on Bursa Malaysia were those at the shipping company Malaysian Bulk Carriers Bhd (Maybulk).

Privately held Tunas Capital Sdn Bhd — the vehicle of Datuk Chin Yoke Kan and Datuk Chin Yoke Choon — hived off 100 million shares in Maybulk, trimming its stake to 6%, or 60 million shares. The shares were acquired by Datuk Goh Cheng Huat, who bumped up his shareholding to 26%, or 260 million shares.

During the period in review, both Yoke Kan and Yoke Choon resigned as executive directors of Maybulk while Ooi Tek Huat, the chief financial officer since May 18 last year, was appointed as an executive director. Yoke Kan and Yoke Choon’s sell-down and exit from the board happened after a plan to sell their grocery business to Maybulk fell through.

Yoke Kan, Yoke Choon and Goh acquired their respective stakes in Maybulk in April last year from billionaire Robert Kuok Hock Nien. Kuok now has a 14% stake in Maybulk via his flagship PPB Group Bhd.

Maybulk closed last Wednesday at 38 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM375.13 million. The stock had gained more than 27% since mid-November last year.

Businessman Chen Khai Voon ceased to be a substantial shareholder in diversified ­Citaglobal Bhd (formerly known as WZ Satu Bhd) after selling 26.4 million shares during the week in review.

Citaglobal’s stock hit a 52-week high of 39 sen on Jan 9, after gaining more than 75% since mid-September last year. It ended trading last Wednesday at 32 sen, valuing the company at RM606.2 million.

Corporate figure Chen has a 20.09% equity interest in Genetec Technology Bhd and was a non-executive director there until June 2020. Chen was previously linked to Atis Corp Bhd and Nadayu Properties Bhd, both of which have been delisted from Bursa Malaysia.

During the week in review, GWT Wellness Sdn Bhd, the vehicle of Gan Weng Ting, sold 10.42 million shares of SMTrack Bhd, a radio-frequency identification solutions provider, and ceased to be a substantial shareholder.

GWT Wellness surfaced as a substantial shareholder in SMTrack in late December last year with a 7.84% equity interest, or 91.76 million shares, after the latter acquired a 30% stake in its wellness and beauty unit V Ultimate Sdn Bhd for RM18 million in shares.

SMTrack finished last Wednesday at four sen, which works out to a market value of RM46.8 million.

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) ceased to be a substantial shareholder in QL Resources Bhd during the week in review; it sold 1.41 million shares and fell below the 5% threshold, which requires disclosure.

EPF emerged as a substantial shareholder in QL Resources at end-October 2018 with a 5.07% equity interest, or 82.35 million shares. At the time, the company’s stock was trading in the RM4.40 band.

QL Resources’ shares hit a 52-week high of RM5.95 on Jan 12 after gaining more than 19% since mid-October last year. The share price closed at RM5.95 last Wednesday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM14.48 billion.

Oil and gas outfit Bumi Armada Bhd’s shares have increased by about 18% since mid-November last year, closing at 49.5 sen on Wednesday.

The company’s share price has strengthened in line with its better financial performance. For its nine months ended Sept 30, 2022, Bumi Armada chalked up a net profit of RM521.73 million on the back of RM1.8 billion in revenue. For the corresponding period a year ago, Bumi Armada registered a net profit of RM465.06 million and a turnover of RM1.65 billion.

Bumi Armada’s core business is the owning and operating of floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels for the oil and gas sector; it is among the largest players in the world. The company also has a few offshore support vessels, but its fleet has been significantly depleted as it has disposed of ageing vessels.

Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp)’s shares, which have been on a steady climb since late November last year, hit a 52-week high of 36 sen on Jan 10, gaining about 49% from 23.5 sen on Nov 23 last year.

Berjaya group patriarch Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun has been reducing his stake in the company since late November. Stock exchange filings on Jan 10 and 13 show that he sold a total of 195 million directly held shares between Jan 6 and 11. His equity interest in BCorp now stands at 22.26%, of which 8.75% is directly held.

On Jan 6, theedgemarkets.com reported that Tan divested 40 million shares, or a 0.7% stake in BCorp, to his son-in-law, S M Faliq S M Nasimuddin, for RM10 million or 25 sen per share. S M Faliq, who is deputy group executive chairman of Naza Group, is married to Chryseis Tan.

BCorp said last December that Tan intends to pare his stake to 19.6% from 26% to facilitate the diversified group’s potential acquisition of a 51% stake in an unnamed financial services company.

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