This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 3, 2023 - July 9, 2023

For the week of June 19 to 23, notable changes in shareholding at Bursa Malaysia-listed companies included the re-emergence of Classita Holdings Bhd’s (formerly known as Caely Holdings Bhd) executive chairman Ng Keok Chai as a substantial shareholder when he acquired 21 million shares, or 5.9% of its outstanding shares, on June 19, according to stock exchange filings by the company the following day.

Ng earlier sold 13.86 million Classita shares on June 15. He had acquired the shares on March 17, at the height of a shareholder dispute at the company.

On April 5, the company announced that it had reached an amicable settlement without admission of liability with its substantial shareholder Datuk Seri Tee Yam @ Koo Tee Yam and former vice-chairman Datin Seri Jessie Wong Siaw Puie over a RM3.96 million advance they had provided to Classita. A consent judgment was recorded.

Tee and Wong filed the suit against Classita in November 2022, claiming they had advanced the amount to the company for its day-to-day operations and management costs. Tee had 19.12% equity interest in the company as at Oct 5, 2022.

There is still an ongoing suit between the current board of directors and Classita’s founder Datin Fong Nyok Yoon, her husband Datuk Chuah Chin Lai and 10 others over a sum not less than RM30.55 million allegedly misappropriated from the group’s subsidiary Caely (M) Sdn Bhd. It is worth noting that Fong ceased to be a substantial shareholder on March 20.

Meanwhile, the president and chairman as well as the largest shareholder of Citaglobal Bhd, Tan Sri Dr Mohamad Norza Zakaria, continued to raise his direct interest in the company to 503,200 shares, or a 0.121% stake, with the acquisition of 353,200 shares on June 16 and 19. He has been adding to his direct interest in the civil engineering, renewable energy and telecommunications infrastructure construction player this year. His indirect stake of 39.213% in the company remained unchanged during the period in review.

Citaglobal counts the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah as its second largest shareholder, with a 7.967% stake as at June 8.

Over at Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O), Datuk Seri Terry Tham Ka Hon sold 25 million shares in the property developer on June 21, leaving him with 13.35 million shares or 0.87% direct equity interest. Tham was a founding member of E&O and a former deputy chairman whose shareholding in the company has declined to a combined direct and indirect interest of 4.2% currently from a high of about 29% in August 2006. The block was likely taken up by Javawana Sdn Bhd, the private vehicle of Kerjaya Prospek Holdings Bhd founders the Tee brothers, bringing their indirect interest in E&O to about 48.36%.

RGB International Bhd major shareholder Datuk Seri Chuah Kim Seah continued to buy shares in the integrated gaming solutions specialist as its share price rose, having added one million shares on June 21 to bring his direct and indirect interest in the group to 29.95%. Chuah, who is managing director of the company, has been buying shares in RGB in June last year and more often this year.

RGB fell into the red in the financial years ended Dec 31, 2020 and 2021 (FY2020 and FY2021) due to the pandemic, but turned around in 3QFY2022 ended Sept 30 and continued to register a net profit for the subsequent quarters. Its share price touched a 15-year intraday high of 34.89 sen on June 22, after rising more than 90% this year.

At Nexgram Holdings Bhd, Midland Sands Sdn Bhd pared down its stake in the end-to-end mobile application service provider by selling 43.8 million shares on June 16, 19 and 20. It continued to sell another 282.3 million shares after the week in review, leaving it with a direct interest of 5.592%.

Midland Sands had acquired 98.88 million shares, or a 15.24% stake, in Nexgram on May 31, according to Bursa filings. Nexgram’s share price has been on a decline, falling 78.57% year to date.

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