(April 22): Norges Bank, which manages Norway’s government pension fund, has emerged as a substantial shareholder in automated test equipment (ATE) maker Pentamaster Corp Bhd (KL:PENTA) with a 5.26% stake.

Bourse filings on Tuesday showed that Norges Bank bought 300,000 shares in Pentamaster on April 17, bringing its shareholding in the group to 35.8 million shares or a 5.03% stake — above the 5% threshold required to be deemed a substantial shareholder.

A day later, it purchased another 1.63 million shares, raising its stake in the ATE manufacturer to 5.26%.

The bourse filings did not disclose the purchase prices.

However, based on Pentamaster shares’ closing prices of RM2.22 on April 17 and RM2.28 on April 18, a back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates the 1.93 million shares or 0.27% stake are valued at about RM4.38 million.

Pentamaster’s largest shareholder is the group’s co-founder and executive chairman Chuah Choon Bin with a 19.76% stake.

Other substantial shareholders include the Employees Provident Fund with a 9.85% stake, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (8.14%), and Lembaga Tabung Haji (5.48%).

Pentamaster booked a net profit of RM14.16 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2024, a decline of 31.6% from RM20.7 million a year earlier, mainly due to weaker demand in its ATE segment.

Quarterly revenue dropped 22.7% year-on-year to RM130.68 million from RM169.01 million.

Shares in Pentamaster ended six sen or 2.76% lower at RM2.11, valuing the group at RM1.5 billion.