KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) bought an additional four million shares in home-grown dairy producer Farm Fresh Bhd, raising its stake to 5.07%.

According to a bourse filing, KWAP bought the block of shares, which is equivalent to a 0.21% stake, on Wednesday. The latest share purchase pushed the retirement fund’s shareholding beyond the 5% threshold necessary to be deemed a substantial shareholder.

KWAP’s current 5.07% shareholding consists of a 2.45% direct stake and 2.62% indirect stake.

The filing with the stock exchange did not reveal the purchase price. However, based on the company’s closing price of RM1.43 on Wednesday, a back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates that the block of shares was valued at about RM5.72 million.

KWAP is currently Farm Fresh’s sixth largest shareholder, behind Rainforest Capital Sdn Bhd with a 30.5% stake, FarmChoice Foods Sdn Bhd (11.87%), Agrifood Resources Holdings Sdn Bhd (11.71%), the Employees Provident Fund (8.97%), and Abrdn plc (6.63%).

It is worth noting that Farm Fresh co-founder, managing director and chief executive officer Loi Tuan Ee and his family are shareholders of Rainforest and FarmChoice.

Shares in Farm Fresh closed unchanged at RM1.47 on Friday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM2.75 billion. The stock has gained 10.53% year-to-date.