Insider Moves: Scomi Group Bhd, IJM Corp Bhd, Federal International Holdings Bhd, PDZ Holdings Bhd, Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd

Notable filings

NOTABLE filings of shareholding changes between June 29 and July 3 include that of a new owner for an associate stake inScomi Group BhdthatIJM Corp Bhdhad reportedly been considering selling since 2015.

Filings showed SBI Spectrum Sdn Bhd — a company linked to Scomi Group’s executive director-cum-CEO and substantial shareholder Sammy Tse Kwok Fai — emerging as a substantial shareholder of Scomi Group after acquiring 233.99 million shares or a 21.39% stake on June 29.

IJM ceased to be a substantial shareholder after selling the stake. The transacted price was not disclosed in the filing but off-market data showed 233.99 million shares changing hands at three sen each on June 25, pricing the block at RM7.02 million. Scomi Group shares closed at four sen last Wednesday.

Scomi Group, which is in the midst of formulating a regularisation plan due to its Practice Note 17 status, recently announced the receipt of RM1 million in financial assistance from SBI Spectrum. An undisclosed number of Scomi Engineering Services Bhd shares “with a market value of up to RM2 million” were charged as collateral for the six-month loan extended at 8% interest per annum, according to a filing with Bursa Malaysia dated July 2.

Meanwhile, Muar Ban Lee Group Bhd (MBL) is no longer a substantial shareholder ofFederal International Holdings Bhdafter its stake slipped below the 5% threshold following the increase of the latter’s share base by 3.3 million shares to 112.87 million shares. MBL, which emerged as a substantial shareholder on June 17 with 5.5 million shares, likely saw its 5.098% stake diluted to 4.87%.

Notable movements

PDZ Holdings Bhdshares were hovering at their highest level in three years as they closed at 20.5 sen last Wednesday — more than five times its closing price of four sen on June 30.

The sudden surge in share price followed the exit of Pelaburan Mara Bhd as PDZ’s single largest shareholder after it disposed of its entire holding of 50.62 million shares on July 3 on the open market at undisclosed prices.

Pelaburan Mara’s stake in the shipping company had been diluted from 7.42% to 5.71% following a recent private placement of 204.6 million shares that expanded PDZ’s share base by about 30% to 886.59 million shares. The placement shares were priced at 2.97 sen (68.2 million shares) on June 10 and 2.72 sen (136.4 million shares) on June 18.

Apart from Pelaburan Mara, PDZ did not have any other names in its register of substantial shareholders in its 2019 annual report. The buyer of the stake was not known at the time of writing.