KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 27): Japan’s Yamato Holdings Co Ltd has trimmed its stake in GDEX Bhd (KL:GDEX) after disposing of 200 million shares in the express courier company via a direct business transaction last week.

The block represents 3.55% of the share base of GDEX. The disposal reduced Yamato’s stake in the express logistics company to 19.64% or 1.088 billion shares.

In an exchange filing on Monday (Oct 27), GDEX stated that Yamato had disposed of the shares on Oct 23. The filing did not disclose the price of the disposed shares or identify the buyer or buyers of the block.

Yamato, which made its maiden investment in GDEX in January 2016 through a RM217.31 million private placement for a 10% stake, had gradually increased its holdings over the years.

As of April 4, 2025, the Japanese logistics group held 1.288 billion shares or 23.25%, according to GDEX’s Annual Report 2024.

The latest transaction marks the first major sell down of a major shareholder of GDEX. Besides Yamato and the largest shareholder Teong Teck Lean, Singapore Post Ltd is also a major shareholder of GDEX.

In a separate filing, GDEX said Teong, who is also its group managing director, acquired 50 million shares via a direct business transaction on the same day Yamato disposed of the shares.

Following the purchase, Teong’s direct shareholding rose to 159.41 million shares (2.88%) while his indirect stake stood at 2.05 billion shares (37.08%), held through several entities including GD Express Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd, GD Holdings International Ltd and GDEX Foundation.

“The percentage of interest as at the date of notice excludes 101,281,500 ordinary shares bought back by the company and retained as treasury shares,” GDEX noted in both filings.

Teong remains the group’s single largest shareholder, followed by Yamato and SingPost, which owns 12.28%.

GDEX has been loss-making for the past three financial years. For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2024 (FY2024), the group reported a narrower net loss of RM1.76 million, compared with RM34.8 million in the previous year.

Revenue rose 6% year-on-year to RM420.46 million, with its IT services segment contributing 13% or RM54.24 million, up 62% from the previous year.

Shares of GDEX closed unchanged at 10.5 sen on Monday, valuing the company at RM592.3 million.