KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): Impiana Hotels Bhd saw Datuk Seri Lee Hock Seng and his spouse Datin Seri Joanne Yew Hong Im emerge as the group’s largest substantial shareholders following the duo’s acquisition of 120.8 million shares or 19.9% stake in the company.
Lee is the group chairman of HYM Group, which owns and operates WOLO Kuala Lumpur and Gold3 Boutique Hotel in Jalan Bukit Bintang here.
In a bourse filing on Monday (Aug 14), Impiana Hotels said the acquisition of the shares by the duo was done via a direct business transaction last Friday (Aug 11). However, Impiana Hotels did not reveal the purchase price.
Based on the group’s closing price of seven sen on Aug 11, a back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates that the duo could have acquired the stake for about RM8.46 million.
In a separate filing, the group said Advance Opportunities Fund and Advance Opportunities Fund I have ceased to be the group’s substantial shareholders, with the former offloading its entire 65 million shares or 10.71% stake in the company, while the latter disposed of 45 million shares or 7.41% interest in the group, respectively.
Post-transaction, Advance Opportunities Fund I is left with 39,977 shares in the company.
The group’s revenue was derived from the hospitality and property development businesses. It is managing hotels under its brand, including Impiana KLCC Hotel, Impiana Hotel Ipoh.
In the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 (1QFY2023), Impiana Hotels posted its fifth quarterly loss of RM3.6 million, a wider net loss compared to RM2.86 million a year ago, despite revenue growing to RM7.37 million, from RM4.6 million previously. The wider loss was due to fees and expenses related to its redeemable convertible notes programme.
Impiana Hotels’ shares price closed up one sen or 14.29% to eight sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM49 million.
Note: This story has been corrected to say that Datuk Seri Lee Hock Seng who has emerged as the largest shareholder of Impiana Hotels Bhd is the group chairman of HYM Group, and not the chairman of SCGM Bhd, as reported earlier.