This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 18, 2023 - September 24, 2023

For the week of Sept 4 to 8, notable shareholding changes at Bursa Malaysia-listed companies included those at Bright Packaging Industry Bhd, which saw its non-­executive director Lye Jun Fei cease to be a substantial shareholder of the aluminium foil packaging materials manufacturer.

According to bourse filings, Lye sold his entire stake of 5.06%, or 10.4 million shares, in the company through an off-market transaction. The transacted price was not disclosed, but based on Bright Packaging’s closing price of 20.5 sen on Sept 5, he would have sold his block of shares for RM2.13 million.

Lye re-emerged as a substantial shareholder of Bright Packaging in November 2020, when he bought 10.4 million shares, or a 5.06% stake, on the open market. Prior to his share disposal, he was the second-largest shareholder of Bright Packaging after Datuk Ricky Wong Shee Kai, whose family controls 32.94% of the company through Wong SK Holdings Sdn Bhd.

In May, Bright Packaging announced its plan to diversify into oil palm plantations to ensure sustainable income. This came after the company announced its planned joint venture with Datai Plantations Sdn Bhd to invest RM5.3 million in the latter to develop an oil palm plantation, along with facilities and ancillary services, including palm oil mills, on parcels of land measuring 1,921ha.

Over at Pekat Group Bhd, Loh Chen Yook ceased to be a substantial shareholder of the solar installation company after disposing of eight million shares on Aug 30. This came as a surprise as Loh emerged as a substantial shareholder of Pekat in mid-July after he bought 19 million shares in the company, bumping his shareholding to 45 million shares, or 6.98% equity interest. On July 21, he bought another 10 million shares in Pekat, raising his stake to 8.53%.

Loh has been gradually paring down his stake in Pekat since Aug 22, when he sold two million shares. He disposed of another 13 million shares on Aug 24. On Aug 30, he sold eight million shares in Pekat, leaving him with 4.96% equity interest. It is worth noting that Loh is chairman of Karyon Industries Bhd and an independent non-executive director at Enra Group Bhd.

On July 17, Datuk Eddie Ong Choo Meng ceased to be a substantial shareholder of Pekat after disposing of 20 million shares, or a 3.1% stake in the company, leaving him with 4.53% equity interest.

Meanwhile, Choy Cheng Choong ceased to be a substantial shareholder of OCB Bhd after he disposed of a 2.92% stake in the instant noodle maker. A Sept 6 filing shows that he disposed of three million shares in OCB on Sept 4 on the open market, trimming his equity interest to 4.89%, or 5.03 million shares.

Prior to the disposal, Choy held a 7.81% stake in OCB and was the company’s second-largest shareholder after Ng Kok Yin and Ho Kit Yen, who jointly own 28.75% equity interest via Rangkai Kartika Sdn Bhd. OCB’s other substantial shareholder is Patricia Woon Lai Ching @ Lee Yah Seng, with 5.46 million shares, or a 5.31% stake.

At Icon Offshore Bhd, its managing director Datuk Seri Hadian Hashim has been mopping up shares in the oil and gas service provider over the past few months. Since early June, Hadian has bought almost 7.5 million shares in the company, raising his stake to 3.87% as at Sept 11 from 3.66% on June 1. He joined Icon Offshore on Sept 3, 2019, to oversee the turnaround of the company, which had been badly hit by the crash in global crude oil prices that started at end-2014.

The share price of IJM Corp Bhd had risen as much as 20.9% since July 31, touching its highest in 43 months at RM1.85 on Sept 1. The counter closed at RM1.77 last Wednesday, valuing the infrastructure and construction group at RM6.17 billion.

The surge in IJM Corp’s share price led to Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd (UJSB) selling 18.25 million shares on the open market in several transactions from Sept 4 to 8. As at Sept 8, UJSB held 177.02 million shares, or just above 5% equity interest in the group.

Filings during the week in review show that the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) bought 2.92 million shares and 2.49 million shares respectively in IJM Corp.

IJM Corp has been in the spotlight over the past month after announcing its plan to buy a 44.8% stake in Pestech International Bhd for RM124 million via a restricted issue, marking the construction group’s entry into the energy transmission sector, on July 24. Less than a month after the announcement, on Aug 16, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd terminated the RM742.95 million contract that had been awarded to Pestech for the aerotrain project at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

KPJ Healthcare Bhd had seen its share price gain 6.85% since late May to RM1.17 last Wednesday, giving the company a market valuation of RM5.19 billion. On a year-to-date basis, the hospital operator’s share price had surged more than 19.13%.

During the week in review, EPF bought a total of 11.07 million shares in KPJ, raising its shareholding to 9.67%, or 438.43 million shares.

On June 22, KPJ appointed Chin Keat Chyuan as president and managing director with effect from Sept 1, a position that has been vacant since Sept 7 last year.

For the six months ended June 30 (1HFY2023), KPJ saw its net profit double to RM98.84 million from RM49.22 million a year earlier, as revenue grew 21.4% year on year to RM1.63 billion, driven by increased inpatient visits and bed occupancy rates.

KPJ said the current rising revenue trend, coupled with the group’s ongoing efforts to increase its bed count, hire more consultants and expand its service offerings, is expected to sustain the group’s encouraging results and contribute positively to its performance.

“The group is optimistic about maintaining its momentum for the upcoming quarters. The healthcare sector is anticipated to remain robust in the upcoming period, driven by the demand witnessed in 1HFY2023,” it said in an Aug 29 filing with Bursa.

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