KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 10): BMS Holdings Bhd (KL:BMS) managing director Ang Kwee Peng and executive director Lee Kok Chuan have increased their stakes in the building materials distributor, just a day after the company made a dismal debut on the ACE Market.
According to a bourse filing, Ang acquired a total of three million shares in two separate blocks on the open market on Tuesday (Dec 9). The first block of one million shares was purchased for RM175,000, or 17.5 sen per share, while the remaining two million shares cost RM355,000, or 17.75 sen apiece.
At 17.5 sen and 17.75 sen, the transactions were at discounts of 2.8% and 1.4%, respectively, to BMS’ closing price of 18 sen on Tuesday.
Post-transaction, Ang’s direct interest stands at 0.33%, while his indirect interest — held via A&F Asset Sdn Bhd — is 30.8%.
Meanwhile, Lee acquired a total of 12 million shares in two open-market blocks on the same day. Of these, nine million shares were purchased for RM1.58 million, or 17.6 sen per share, representing a 2.2% discount to the 18 sen closing price. The remaining three million shares changed hands for RM525,000, or 17.5 sen per share.
Following these purchases, Lee now holds an 18.4% direct stake and a 12.8% indirect stake in the company.
Ang and Lee jointly founded the business more than three decades ago.
BMS shares fell as much as five sen or 22.7% to 17 sen from its IPO price of 22 sen during its maiden trading day on the ACE Market on Monday.
Prior to that, the Johor-based company reported an overall subscription rate of 2.4 times for the public portion of its IPO — one of the weakest subscription rates seen this year.
The IPO raised RM80.1 million from newly issued shares, while a further RM34.3 million was raised through the sale of existing shares by current shareholders. Among them, Ang offered 59.7 million shares and Lee offered 41.5 million shares.
BMS operates across retail, wholesale and project sales of building materials, primarily tiles and stone surfaces such as porcelain, ceramic tiles, engineered stones, natural stones and mosaics. It also supplies complementary bathware and kitchenware products.
BMS shares closed one sen or 5.6% higher at 19 sen on Wednesday, valuing the Johor-based company at RM292.6 million.