BUSINESSMAN Wong Thean Soon has simultaneously pared down his stakes in three Bursa Malaysia‑listed companies, while two of them – Cuscapi Bhd and Excel Force MSC Bhd (EForce) – are now tapping the market for fresh equity via private placements.
The EForce corporate exercise has drawn investor interest as the company has seen the return of co-founder and former managing director Wang Kuen-Chung, or better known as Jeff Wang.
Since early this month, Jeff Wang has been mopping up EForce shares, lifting his stake to 18.21% and making him the single largest shareholder.
This comes just as Wong pared down his stake to 14%, at last look, from 31% at the end of March.
Is Wang’s presence a friendly and welcomed one, or is the recently announced private placement a way to contain his growing stake?
Another major shareholder in EForce is Mohamed Nizam Abdul Razak, the brother of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who holds a 7.18% stake.
Wang, Wong and Mohamed Nizam do not sit on the board of EForce, which interestingly is chaired by Datuk Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, who holds five million shares in the company.
EForce, a fintech solutions provider to the local capital market, has proposed a private placement of up to 10% of its issued capital, expected to raise close to RM11mil for operating and administrative expenses, according to its filing.
At Cuscapi, Wong has ceased to be a major shareholder (from an earlier 28% stake), while a new substantial shareholder, Tan Boon Seng, has emerged.
Tan acquired the 10.6% stake via a direct transaction with Wong, the company’s filing suggests.
Cuscapi has also unveiled plans to issue 94.49 million shares to raise RM4.55mil via a placement exercise, largely for salaries, payments to hardware suppliers and rental costs.