KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 26): UK-based City of London Investment Management Company Ltd (CLIM) has pared down its shareholding in Malaysia’s only listed closed-end fund, icapital.biz Bhd (KL:ICAP), to 16.6%.
This followed the latest round of disposals, in which CLIM sold 1.15 million shares in an open market transaction on Thursday (Sept 25), according to icapital’s filing with Bursa Malaysia on Friday. The transaction value was not disclosed.
Notably, CLIM began gradually trimming its stake in icapital in May last year, when it held 23.9%.
To recap, CLIM first announced a 5.12% stake in the fund’s shares in 2011 and steadily increased its holdings thereafter.
In 2019, icapital asked CLIM to pare down its shareholding to comply with the 20% cap under guidelines for closed-end funds. These guidelines restrict any single shareholder from owning more than 20% of a fund.
However, CLIM denied breaching the Securities Commission Malaysia’s guideline, stressing that it acts only as an investment adviser. The shares, it said, belong to its clients, and none of them hold more than 20%.
According to CLIM’s latest disclosure, its shares in icapital are currently held by Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Bhd, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd, and HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd.
CLIM had also attempted to seek board representation in icapital in 2012 and 2014 but was unsuccessful. It has opposed the re-election of ICAP’s directors.
icapital is managed by Capital Dynamics Asset Management Sdn Bhd, with investment advice provided by Capital Dynamics Sdn Bhd. Both entities were founded by Tan Teng Boo.
At Friday’s market close, icapital’s shares were four sen or 1.6% higher at RM2.54, giving the fund a market capitalisation of RM358.2 million.