KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 1): Baskin-Robbins ice cream brand franchisee Scoop Capital Sdn Bhd’s major shareholder Datuk Cheah See Yeong has been appointed as executive chairman of Apollo Food Holdings Bhd, while his son Cheah Jia Ming has been made managing director.

This comes after Singaporean brothers Liang Chiang Heng and Liang Kim Poh resigned from the two posts after disposing of their 51.31% stake under investment vehicle Keynote Capital Sdn Bhd to Scoop for RM238.08 million, cash or RM5.80 per share.

Under a subsequent unconditional mandatory takeover offer triggered to acquire the remaining stake in the group, Scoop acquired an additional 27.11% stake in Apollo by the close-date of Jan 29. Under the offer, Scoop said it intends to maintain the listing status of Apollo on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.

See Yeong controls a 78.42% stake in Apollo.

Given that the public shareholding spread falls below the minimum 25% threshold, Scoop and Apollo will have to explore proposals within three months from the closing date, or an extended timeframe as allowed by the relevant authorities, to enable Apollo to comply with the requirement.

Scoop is 90% owned by See Yeong, while his wife Datin Soon Gock Lan @ Soon Geok Lin holds the remaining 10% stake.

The company owns 100% of Golden Scoop Sdn Bhd, which is the master franchisee for Baskin-Robbins in Malaysia and Singapore.

Shares in Apollo closed unchanged at RM5.64 on Wednesday, valuing the company at RM451.2 million.