KUALA LUMPUR (Sep 13): Both the Employees Provident Fund and Lembaga Tabung Haji are no longer substantial shareholders of Globetronics Technology Bhd (KL:GTRONIC) following the company's recent announcement that its external auditor KPMG PLT has voluntarily resigned.
Based on bourse filings on Friday, EPF sold 9.48 million Globetronics shares on Tuesday (Sept 10), while Tabung Haji disposed of 4.02 million of the company's shares — the same day that Globetronics announced KPMG's departure and its shares dived over 30%.
While it was Tabung Haji's first time selling Globetronics shares since 2021, EPF has been trimming its stake in Globetronics throughout the year, with selling intensifying from August — when it offloaded 31.34 million or 4.6% of Globetronics' shares.
EPF in total sold 70.65 million Globetronics shares so far this year that represent a 10.46% stake in Globetronics, leaving it with about 26.21 million or 3.88% stake in the company. It used to own as much as 128.17 million shares or 19.15% in Globetronics back in April 2022.
As for Tabung Haji, after selling 4.02 million shares on Sept 10, the pilgrim fund should still have about 32.16 million shares or 4.8% stake in the company. It had 5.71% as of July 16, 2021.
While Globetronics shares settled unchanged at 55 sen on Friday, giving the group a market value of RM371.46 million, the shares of its largest shareholder APB Resources Bhd (KL:APB), which owns a 10.37% stake in the company, continued to fall.
A drop of more than 15% during the day led to the suspension of short selling of APB shares earlier on Friday, before the stock pared some losses to settle at RM1.01, down 12 sen or 10.6% from the previous day's close. Year-to-date, it is down 60.1%.
At its current price point, APB has a market capitalisation of RM114 million, just a little over the RM102 million paper loss that APB is estimated to be facing for its investment in Globetronics.
It bought into the outsourced semiconductor assembly and test firm in February.