This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 29, 2025 - October 5, 2025

ON Sept 12, corporate player and former schoolteacher Yeoh Jin Hoe quietly surfaced as a substantial shareholder of diversified OCB Bhd (KL:OCB), with a 17% stake.

Jin Hoe’s vehicle for the acquisition, Das O’Connors Sdn Bhd, acquired 10.49 million shares or 10.2% from his wife Patricia Woon Lai Ching @ Lee Yah Seng. The remainder of the shares were likely bought from Cheong Pooi Leong, who had acquired 7% in OCB at the same time Woon surfaced in the company in September 2023.

Woon and Jin Hoe equally own Das O’Connors, a company with a paid-up capital of just RM2.

The Edge asked Jin Hoe, who will turn 79 in November, about his plans regarding OCB. His reply was, “My apologies. I don’t give interviews. Thank you very much.”

With his 17% stake, Jin Hoe is the second-largest shareholder after Ng Kok Yin and Peter Ho Kit Heng, who jointly hold 28.75% interest via Rangkai Kartika Sdn Bhd. Both Ng and Ho have been substantial shareholders since end-December 2001, when they acquired their shares from Stockware Capital Sdn Bhd. Stockware Capital was controlled by three individuals — Law Thiam Hock, Lim Boon Hiong and Tan Tien Kok.

Ng and Ho have not been on the board of OCB since they acquired the stake in 2001. Back then, OCB derived most of its revenue from importing and selling mobile phones.

Considering Ng and Ho’s lack of representation on OCB’s board, will Jin Hoe remain the second-largest shareholder or will he look at garnering greater control of the company and increase his stake?

“[Jin Hoe] is an astute investor. He knows the corporate game. It will be interesting to see what happens in OCB, what his plans are,” one seasoned market player says.

This is the fourth publicly traded company in which Jin Hoe has a substantial stake, the others being Can-One Bhd (KL:CANONE), Box-Pak (M) Bhd (KL:BOXPAK) and Alcom Group Bhd (KL:ALCOM).

OCB’s main businesses are consumer food, held under wholly-owned Ibufood Corp Sdn Bhd, bedding products via Kaiserkorp Sdn Bhd and property development through 80%-owned subsidiary Enigma Sinar Sdn Bhd.

Ibufood produces instant noodles under the Ibumie brand, mayonnaise, salad dressings, seasoning powder, seasoning oil and sauces, among others. Kaiserkorp, according to OCB’s website, is the exclusive licensee for the King Koil brand of mattresses. Enigma Sinar, meanwhile, is developing a 36.92-acre industrial park in Kapar in Klang, Selangor.

Interestingly, OCB acquired Kaiserkorp, which was formerly known as Kaiserkorp Bhd, for RM64.55 million in cash on Aug 9, 2000, according to its annual report for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2000 (FY2000).

“In 1978, Kaiserkorp under the brand name of King Koil was the first company in Malaysia to introduce and manufacture mattresses, developed and endorsed by Doctors of Chiropractic, through its association with the International Chiropractors Association,” it said.

OCB’s financials have not been spectacular, but its balance sheet is clean (see chart).

For the six months ended June 2025, OCB chalked up a net profit of RM12.35 million on RM166.61 million in revenue. For the corresponding period a year ago, it recorded a net profit of RM7.7 million from RM155.48 million in revenue.

As at end-June this year, the company was in a net cash position with cash and cash equivalents of RM67.8 million, overdraft and short-term borrowings of RM25.8 million and long-term borrowings of RM10.25 million. Meanwhile, its reserves stood at RM89.87 million.

OCB ended trading last Thursday at 80 sen a share, translating into a market capitalisation of RM82.3 million. Interestingly, the company’s net asset per share as at end-June was RM1.88.

Jin Hoe is best known in corporate Malaysia as being the 60.56% shareholder of Can-One, which manufactures tin cans. The company’s shares were floated on Bursa Malaysia at end-July 2005.

Can-One only drew attention when it took over the much larger Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd in January 2012 with the purchase of a 32.9% stake in the latter for RM1.65 per share, or RM241.1 million cash, in a tender. Kian Joo Can Factory also had 55.15% interest in packaging outfit Box-Pak, which Jin Hoe and Can-One inherited.

Can-One stepped up to acquire the 32.9% in Kian Joo after a long-drawn-out dispute between brothers Datuk Anthony See Teow Guan and Datuk See Teow Chuan that started in 1994, leading to KPMG Corporate Services Sdn Bhd being given the mandate to sell the block of shares in the company.

It took a long time to sell as the two factions fought over whether to distribute the shares in Kian Joo, or sell the shares and distribute the cash to 27 shareholders who were members of the See family.

The feuding family, whose patriarch See Boon Tay started the company in 1956, tried to block the sale to Can-One but to no avail.

Then in mid-December 2018, Can-One acquired 2.17 million shares or 0.49% in Kian Joo from Tan Kim Seng, a former general manager of Box-Pak, at RM3.10 per share or RM6.7 million. This raised Can-One’s shareholding in Kian Joo to 33.39%, triggering a mandatory general offer (MGO) for the 66.61% not under its control.

Jin Hoe and Can-One were reprimanded by the Securities Commission Malaysia as they only announced the MGO on Feb 14, 2019, despite launching the MGO in December 2018.

While the MGO had its critics, it went ahead.

MIDF Research in a December 2018 report stated, “While this [proposed privatisation] presents an opportunity for Can-One to further increase its shareholding in its associate [Kian Joo], additional earnings contribution could also be offset by higher borrowing costs.

“We think that the premium paid by Can-One for Kian Joo shares in relation to the latter’s market price is steep, as it is 51.3% higher than its five-day volume weighted average price (VWAP), 47.8% higher than its one-month VWAP, 40.2% higher than its three-month VWAP, 30.6% higher than its six-month VWAP and 14.7% higher than its 12-month VWAP. On the other hand, the indicative offer price represents a 6% discount to its net asset per share. A PER of 15.3 times is within peers’ average, but EV/Ebitda of 10.2 times is higher than peer average,” MIDF had said.

With Kian Joo under its belt, Can-One grew into a giant in the can-making industry.

Jin Hoe’s coups include a killing he made with aluminium rolled products manufacturer Alcom. In August 2016, he launched a takeover bid for Alcom, then known as Aluminium Co of Malaysia Bhd, after acquiring 59.16% of the company at 61 sen a share, or RM48.33 million, from Novelis Inc, which triggered an MGO.

Jin Hoe’s vehicle was Towerpack Sdn Bhd, which he owned with his two sons, Marc Francis Yeoh Min Chang and Keith Christopher Yeoh Min Kit.

However, considering Alcom’s NAV per share of RM1.24 as at March 31, 2016, the offer was viewed as unattractive, and independent adviser Mercury Securities deemed the 61 sen offer as not fair and not reasonable. Alcom’s shareholders were advised to reject it.

In September 2017, a little more than a year after taking control of Alcom, Jin Hoe hived off 39.68 million shares or about 30% in the company at RM1.12 per share, or about RM44.44 million, to SCLand Holdings Sdn Bhd, the vehicle of businessmen Datuk Yong How Choong, Datuk Eng Kim Liong, Datuk Lim Chee Khoon, Kam Choo Keng and Ang Loo Leong.

Today, Jin Hoe holds 32.48% of Alcom and is its largest shareholder.

Others familiar with Jin Hoe highlight that in May 2016, he had sold a 60% stake in Kaiserkorp Corp Sdn Bhd for RM116.66 million to Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd (KL:KPS). Note that this is not the same Kaiserkorp that is wholly-owned by OCB.

Then in January 2024, KPS, which is 63.4%-controlled by the Selangor state government, sold a 50% stake in Kaiserkorp Corp to AI Dream (HK) Ltd for RM265.48 million in cash. AI Dream then offered to acquire a 30% equity interest in Kaiserkorp Corp from Jin Hoe as well.

Checks with the Companies Commission of Malaysia reveal that Kaiserkorp was formerly known as Kingkoil (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, and is wholly-owned by OCB. Meanwhile, Kaiserkorp Corp is 80%-controlled by AI Dream, and 10% each by KPS and Jin Hoe.

Jin Hoe is said to be the founder of Kaiserkorp Group. Kaiserkorp seems to be smaller than Kaiserkorp Corp.

For its financial year ended Dec 31, 2024, Kaiserkorp Corp recorded RM26.12 million in after-tax profits from RM175.09 million in revenue. As at end-2024, it had total assets of RM297.6 million and total liabilities of RM85 million.

Kaiserkorp, meanwhile, posted after-tax profits of RM3.59 million from RM68.35 million in revenue for FY2024. Its total assets amounted to RM95.94 million and total liabilities were RM26.66 million.

Jin Hoe seems to have strong links to OCB. OCB’s annual report shows that the company’s senior management includes his brother, 73-year-old Yeoh Jin Beng. The latter is a director of OCB’s consumer foods division and was appointed as a director of Ibufood on July 12, 2002.

He is one of the co-founders of Kaiserkorp Group.

Jin Beng is also a non-independent non-executive director of Can-One. His son Charles Edward Yeoh Min Hsien was appointed as director of operations at Ibufood on June 18, 2020.

The annual report also states that, as at March 28 this year, Jin Hoe held 680,000 shares or 0.66% in OCB. Jin Hoe’s son Min Chang had 288,500 shares or 0.28% in OCB.

OCB’s senior independent non-executive director Khoo Kay Leong was appointed to the board in September 2024 and was group chief financial officer of Can-One from 2012 until his retirement in 2021.

Non-independent non-executive director Wong Choon Shein was appointed to the board of OCB in November 2017, two months after Jin Hoe’s wife Woon surfaced in OCB with a 10.2% equity interest. Wong is also an independent non-executive director of Alcom.

Lydia Tong Yiu Shyian-Shyian, one of OCB’s two company secretaries, is also one of two company secretaries for Alcom, Can-One and Box-Pak.

With Jin Hoe’s emergence at OCB, it will be interesting to watch his next move at the company. 

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