KUALA LUMPUR (May 15): Paper tycoon Oei Tjie Goan has emerged as a substantial shareholder in NTPM Holdings Bhd with 22.42%.

NTPM filing showed that Oei, who is president and chairman of Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Group, bought 251.76 million shares in the company via Premier Investment Ltd.

The shares were acquired on May 10 “by reason of entry into a share sale agreement”, NTPM’s filing said, adding that the transaction is pending completion.

Prior to this, NTPM’s largest shareholder is its chairman and managing director Lee See Jin, who holds a 29.05% direct and 12.33% indirect stake in the company. Lee is also the founder of NTPM.

Shares of NTPM have rebounded from a recent low of 33 sen in November 2022. The counter rose two sen or 4.44% in the morning session on Monday, to close at 47 sen at noon market break for a market capitalisation of RM527.9 million.

NTPM, which manufactures tissue paper and personal care products, had never posted any full-year losses since its listing in 2002.

In the nine-month period ended Jan 31, 2023 (9MFY2023), NTPM booked a net loss of RM9.73 million from a net profit of RM24.76 million, despite revenue rising 15.82% to RM653.29 million, from RM564.06 million in 9MFY2022.

The weaker bottom line was due to higher costs of distribution, and operating utilities such as electricity and gas. The group was also affected by higher raw material import costs, the weakening ringgit, and higher interest expense, its filing showed.

The group has paid 0.8 sen dividend per share for FY2023 so far, compared with 1.6 sen per share for FY2022 and 2.4 sen per share for FY2021.