This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 25, 2023 - October 1, 2023

Handal Energy Bhd has been without a substantial shareholder since Aug 9. The company has seen boardroom changes, however, and proposed a placement that would result in its existing shareholding rising 40% and the issuance of warrants.

As at March this year, the major shareholder of Handal was Seaoffshore Capital Sdn Bhd, with 19.96%, but the shareholding in Handal, which provides services for the oil and gas industry, changed in August.

On Aug 3, Deepetro Offshore Brokers Pte Ltd emerged as a substantial shareholder, with 11.4%. Less than a week later, on Aug 9, Seaoffshore Capital ceased to be a shareholder of Handal.

Seaoffshore Capital is the private vehicle of Yamani Hafez Musa, the son of former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman, and Sunildeep Singh Dhaliwal, former managing director of Handal.

On Aug 11, Deepetro Offshore also disposed of its 11.4% equity interest in Handal.

In a nutshell, close to 32% of Handal has changed hands, but not a single party or individual has emerged as a substantial shareholder.

During this period, Sunildeep has been redesignated to executive director and three incumbent board members, including its chairman, have resigned.

There are three new appointees to the Handal board, and it is not clear who these new appointments represent.

What is puzzling is that while Handal seems to have no controlling shareholder at the moment, the company has proposed a corporate exercise to place out new shares amounting to 40% of the existing capital. The new placement is likely to raise a mere RM9.7 million.

Apart from new shares, the corporate proposal also involves the issuance of one warrant for every two shares after the placement.

Handal will have a new shareholding structure when the exercise is completed, but without clarity on its existing shareholders, who is calling the shots in the company now?

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.