KUALA LUMPUR (April 30): Chin Hin Group-linked Chiau Haw Loon and Chiau Haw Yew have emerged as the second largest shareholder of Ge-Shen Corp Bhd after acquiring a 18.31% stake in the company.

The brothers, via private entity Enrich Signature Sdn Bhd, bought 23 million Ge-Shen shares from Ge-Shen’s managing director Chan Choong Kong, company filings showed.

The shares were transacted across three tranches on Monday (April 29) at RM30.36 million or RM1.32 per share, Bloomberg data showed.

The brothers are sons of Chin Hin Group founder Datuk Seri Chiau Beng Teik.

Shares of Ge-Shen averaged at around RM1.34 last year, and traded between RM1.10 and RM1.59 in the period.

A run-up that started in January accelerated in the last two months, resulting in the counter touching record high of RM4.23 on March 22.

Since then, Ge-Shen shares have traded largely sideways, closing at RM3.89 on Tuesday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM489.22 million. At RM3.89, Ge-Shen is trading at a historical price-to-earnings ratio of 58.23 times. It has no analyst's coverage.

Based on the stock's last traded price, the Chiau brothers’ newly-acquired stake is valued at RM89.47 million, giving them a cool paper profit of RM59.11 million or 194.7% on the 18.31% shareholding.

Chan, who sold the stake via Pelita Niagamas Sdn Bhd, remains a substantial shareholder of Ge-Shen with an indirect 6.47% stake, and a direct 0.08% stake.

Pelita Niagamas once held as much as 63.39% in Ge-Shen, which was in March last year, but pared down its stake — including to Frazel Group Sdn Bhd which emerged as a substantial shareholder in June 2023, and currently holding a 29.59% stake in the company.

Frazel Group was recently in the news after its RM59.58 million deal to acquire a plot of land from YNH Property Bhd was called off as YNH decided to rope in Chin Hin Group Property Bhd to develop the land instead.

In return for the development rights, Chin Hin Property will pay RM52 million to YNH. YNH has said it intends to use RM24 million of the proceeds to repay Frazel Group's deposit due to the cancellation of the land sale.

Frazel Group is linked to Datuk Keh Chuan Seng, who is also the largest shareholder of Tex Cycle Technology (M) Bhd, where Chiau Haw Yew is executive director.

Ge-Shen is a contract manufacturer who works with materials such as metal, silicone and plastic, with operations in Malaysia followed by Vietnam. It manufactures high precision plastic components used in the manufacturing of computer peripherals, information and technology products, electronics and electrical related products and automotive products, among others.

Ge Shen posted net profit of RM8.4 million or 7.07 sen per share in 2023, on the back of a record high revenue of RM256.31 million that year.