This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 27, 2023 - December 3, 2023

Berjaya Corp Bhd became the largest shareholder of Salcon Bhd as it continued to acquire the water and wastewater engineering group’s shares during the holiday-shortened trading week of Nov 13 to 17, increasing its stake to 12.55% with 127.03 million shares as at Nov 20.

On Nov 14 and 15, BCorp acquired 14.13 million shares or 1.4% of the total outstanding shares of Salcon through Redtone Digital Bhd. On Nov 15, through Inter-Pacific Capital Sdn Bhd, it acquired 11.3 million shares or 1.12% of Salcon’s share base.

On Nov 17, Juara Sejati Sdn Bhd acquired 10 million shares of Salcon’s shares, representing a 0.99% stake. The former is owned by Berjaya Group Bhd, which in turn is wholly owned by BCorp.

BCorp emerged as a substantial shareholder of Salcon on Nov 2 after it acquired 4.78 million shares on the open market through Inter-Pacific, increasing its stake to 5.43%, or 55 million shares. Prior to BCorp becoming the largest shareholder of Salcon, Tan Sri Tee Tiam Lee was the largest shareholder with a 12.48% stake.

Salcon’s share price had rallied 68.42% since Nov 1 to close at 32 sen last Tuesday. This valued the group at RM329.03 million.

At Pansar Bhd, Highline Shipping Sdn Bhd acquired 1.408 million shares on Nov 14 and 17, increasing its stake in the distributor of construction and building materials as well as marine and industrial engineering products to 7%.

Highline Shipping is owned by Hubline Bhd, a dry bulk shipping logistics services company. The former emerged as a substantial shareholder of Pansar on July 20 after it acquired 167,400 shares and increased its stake in the latter to 5.03%.

Datuk James Tai Cheong @ Tai Chiong is the largest shareholder of Pansar with a 65.33% stake held through Pan Sarawak Holdings Sdn Bhd.

Pansar’s share price closed at 64 sen on Nov 21, valuing the group at RM305.3 million. The counter had increased three sen or 4.03% year to date.

Meanwhile, Pembinaan Viana Sdn Bhd ceased being a substantial shareholder of Fitters Diversified Bhd after it disposed of 52.32 million shares in the mechanical and electrical contracting company on Nov 3.

Prior to the disposal, Pembinaan Viana owned 152.88 million shares or a 6.53% stake in Fitters Diversified. The largest shareholder of Fitters Diversified is Ho Jien Shiung, holding 14.83% of the group’s outstanding share base.

During the week in review, a total of 1.18 million shares in Maxim Global Bhd were acquired by Datuk Tan Kak Seng, representing 0.16% of the total outstanding shares of the property development group.

Then on Nov 20, Tan acquired another 497,100 shares in Maxim. As at Nov 20, he directly held 45.79 million shares in Maxim, representing 6.23% of the outstanding shares. The recent transactions were the latest undertaken by Tan since Oct 6, 2021, according to filings with Bursa Malaysia.

Maxim’s share price increased 12.33% between Nov 10 and 21 to end at 41 sen, giving the property developer and timber and oil palm planter a market capitalisation of RM301.35 million. At 41 sen, the shares were traded at a historical price-earnings ratio of 15.41 times.

During the week in review, XL Holdings Bhd’s share price increased 4.27% to 85.5 sen, valuing the group at RM215.3 million. The counter had increased 7.59% year to date.

On Nov 16 and 17, Datuk Khoo Yik Chou acquired a total of 438,000 shares in XL at 83.5 sen and 85 sen apiece. This increased his shareholding in the aquaculture business to 5.32 million shares or 2.11% of the outstanding share base. Khoo is an executive director of XL.

On Nov 20, XL announced that it would be acquiring 25% equity interest in Samajutera Sdn Bhd to engage in seaweed cultivation. The deal involves purchasing the stake for RM15 million from promoters Ahmad Marzuki Nasir @ Abdu Salam and Wong Kiong Lien as well as up to RM15 million in shareholders’ loans in Samajutera’s subsidiary WAF Holdings Sdn Bhd. 

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