This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 27, 2025 - February 2, 2025

From Jan 13 to 17, notable changes in shareholding at Bursa Malaysia-listed companies included that at Sersol Bhd (KL:SERSOL), where its largest shareholder, Hillcove Sdn Bhd, ceased to be a substantial shareholder.

In an off-market deal, Hillcove sold 90 million shares, or a 12.304% stake in the coating solution company at an undisclosed price. Based on Sersol’s closing price of eight sen apiece on Jan 9, Hillcove could have sold the equity interest for about RM7.2 million.

Subsequently, the cash-strapped company saw the emergence of Forever Famous Sdn Bhd, a private vehicle controlled by Sersol’s executive director Datuk Mohamed Suffian Awang, as its new largest shareholder. Forever Famous bought the 90 million shares, a 12.304% stake, from Hillcove, bringing its total shareholding to 100 million shares or 13.671% equity interest.

Mohamed Suffian is a former independent non-executive director of the then Felda Global Ventures Bhd, now known as FGV Holdings Bhd (KL:FGV), and a former political secretary to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. He was appointed executive director of Sersol in August 2023.

Hillcove first surfaced as a substantial shareholder of Sersol in July 2023, after it purchased 100 million shares, or a 13.671% stake in the company. In November 2023, Sersol let its CEO Datuk Wira Justin Lim Hwa Tat go. He was under investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over a RM2.5 million payment to a third party, HGC Legacy Enterprise.

Elsewhere, loss-making Parlo Bhd (KL:PARLO) saw Chuah Xui Cheng cease as a substantial shareholder of the travel and tour service company. Chuah first emerged in Parlo in September 2024 after she bought 60.81 million shares, or 10.12% equity interest in the company.

Chuah sold 33 million shares (a 5.49% stake) in Parlo through an off-market transaction at an undisclosed price. Her block of shares is believed to be sold to William Hon Tian Kok, who also acquired another 27.81 million shares in Parlo during the week under review. This brings his shareholding to 98.62 million shares or 16.405%.

The transactions came a few weeks after Parlo proposed several corporate exercises, including a capital reduction to eliminate its accumulated losses, share consolidation for every three shares to one and rights issues of up to 300.58 million shares on the basis of one rights share for every one consolidated share.

Hon, who is the founder, CEO and managing director of Bioalpha Holdings Bhd (KL:BIOHLDG), first emerged as a substantial shareholder of Parlo in May 2023 after he subscribed 98.62 million shares or 17.366% equity interest through a private placement exercise.

He pared down his stake to 6.29% in September last year after selling 60.81 million shares to Chuah.

Over at Cosmos Technology International Bhd (KL:COSMOS), a total of 14.36 million shares, representing 5.6% equity interest, were sold to JF Technology Bhd’s (KL:JFTECH) co-founder and managing director Datuk Foong Wei Kuong on Jan 17.

According to filings with Bursa, the transaction raised Foong’s stake in Cosmos to 17.95% from 12.35%, making him the second largest shareholder of the integrated water solutions provider. Foong bought the equity interest from Singapore-based MSM International Ltd, which now has a 6% stake in Cosmos from 11.6% previously.

Bloomberg data showed that the latest transaction was done at 39.4 sen per share or a total of RM5.66 million, the same price at which Foong purchased two blocks of Cosmos shares in December last year.

Foong first emerged as a substantial shareholder of Cosmos after acquiring 13.946 million shares in December last year. He then acquired another 7.6 million shares on Dec 17.

Bloomberg data suggested that Foong bought the two blocks of shares at 39.4 sen apiece, or RM8.49 million.

Meanwhile, Cosmos’ largest shareholder and managing director Datuk Chong Toh Wee bought 5.13 million shares, or 2% equity interest in the company, from MSM International for RM2.02 million or 39.4 sen apiece through ISET Engineering Sdn Bhd. He also holds a direct stake of 36.87% or 94.57 million shares in Cosmos.

Dairy product specialist Farm Fresh Bhd (KL:FFB), which saw its share price come under selling pressure in July 2023, made a recovery in 2024. The counter touched RM1.87 a share on Dec 30 last year, the highest level seen since its March 2022 initial public offering (IPO) of RM1.35. From its low point to its new peak, the stock has rebounded 77%.

Over the last one year, Farm Fresh’s share price has gained almost 26% to close at RM1.83 apiece last Thursday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM3.43 billion.

During the week under review, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) bought an additional 8.44 million shares in Farm Fresh, raising its stake to 9.47%, while Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP) acquired 504,500 shares, bringing its total shareholding to 8.412% as at Jan 23, 2025.

For its first financial six months ended Sept 30, 2024 (1HFY2025), Farm Fresh’s net profit soared 172% to RM52.18 million from RM19.16 million a year earlier, while revenue rose 28% to RM490.86 million during that period.

Group managing director and CEO Loi Tuan Ee said Farm Fresh is in the midst of a few expansions, including increasing the capacity of its Taiping plant, while waiting for its upcoming Enstek facility in Negeri Sembilan to be completed and operational in the second half of 2025.

In a statement following its 1HFY2025 results announcement, Farm Fresh said its gross margin during the quarter under review improved to 33.6% from the 26.3% a year ago, mainly driven by a reduction in input costs of dairy raw materials as well as contributions from Inside Scoop and Sin Wah.

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (KL:TM) also saw some interest from EPF during the week under review. The provident fund bought 6.74 million shares in the telecommunications company while KWAP bought 10.95 million shares. EPF has raised its equity interest in TM to 16.53% from 16.08% in December last year, while KWAP has increased its stake to 8.63% from 8.22% over the last one month.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2024 (9MFY2024), TM’s net profit dropped 10.5% to RM1.29 billion from RM1.4 billion a year earlier due to a one-off tax credit received last year. Tax expenses stood at RM509.8 million in 9MFY2024 against a tax credit of RM30.2 million previously. 

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