Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, co-founder of doubled his stake to 11.53% in smallish mTouche Technology Bhd.
At the same time, mTouche chief financial officer Tan Wee Meng, the third largest shareholder and co-founder of the mobile content provider, reduced his stake from 15.55% to 8.64%.
Eugene Goh, Tan's partner and the chief executive officer of mTouche has also been trimming his stake in the firm to the current 26%. He remains the current largest shareholder, after OSK Capital Partners Sdn Bhd which has a 21.27% stake.
Ng Joo How, meanwhile, the fourth-largest shareholder and a company director, had ceased to be a shareholder of the company.
In what could be early signs of a total change in the company's shareholding and organisation structure, a lot of questions are being raised, chief among these are, why would Kamarudin buy into a firm with a market capitalisation of only RM100mil and why are the company's founders selling off?
Earlier, it was reported that Goh was being pressured to settle a total of RM20mil that he owed OSK Capital Partners. The money was taken to fund a previous rights issue.
A few years ago, mTouche did a major write-off on its investment in GMO Ltd, which was listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and subsequently delisted on Dec 30, 2009. GMO's other major shareholders were Green Packet Bhd and OSK Ventures International Bhd.
In its last quarter of its financial year ended Dec 31, 2009, mTouche made an impairment charge of about RM45.2mil mainly related to its associate company GMO Ltd. That impairment charge was reportedly the last of such provisions that had been taking its toll on the company's earnings.
Due to that major write off, Goh and Tan had committed to pumping in fresh capital into mTouche, hence had borrowed RM20mil from OSK Capital. It is understood that they have been paying interest on this amount for the last few years.
According to sources, now there is a pressing need to settle the loan presumably due to the impending merger between OSK Holdings Bhd-RHB Capital Bhd.
Initially, this was to be done via an arrangement which would see Goh sell off some of his shares in the market to help settle the loan. A takeover of his company was never in the plan, in Goh's view. However, Goh has been made to understand that a takeover is now on the cards. He is now being pressured to sell off his remaining block of shares to a selected group of people to settle his loan, sources say.
It is not immediately known the reason for this nor why there does not seem to be any other options available. Needless to say should this happen, Goh who is also executive chairman of mTouche will lose his control over the company.
Sources say the plan is for the new shareholders, which may include Kamarudin to use mTouche as a platform to obtain a Government project related to mTouche's expertise.
mTouche made a net loss of RM4.7mil on revenue of RM43.7mil for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2011 and had cash and balances of RM21.1mil at Dec 31 2011. The company in 2010, fresh after making its last major impairment charges, said that it would continue to expand aggressively regionally.
Singaporean Goh is the founder of mTouche Pte Ltd (MPL) and a major contributor to the setting-up of MPL's pioneering operations in Singapore.Under Goh, mTouche has grown and expanded into other South-East Asia markets such as Malaysia , Indonesia and Thailand with local offices set up in each one of these countries.
The group is one of the mobile technology platform service providers in the world to have direct server connections to all mobile network operators in Singapore , Malaysia , Indonesia and Thailand .
In 2010, it held the number one position locally, in the mobile pure-play arena, with more than half a million subscribers subscribing to its mobile device-based social networking service called JuzFrens.
At the same time, mTouche chief financial officer Tan Wee Meng, the third largest shareholder and co-founder of the mobile content provider, reduced his stake from 15.55% to 8.64%.
Eugene Goh, Tan's partner and the chief executive officer of mTouche has also been trimming his stake in the firm to the current 26%. He remains the current largest shareholder, after OSK Capital Partners Sdn Bhd which has a 21.27% stake.
Ng Joo How, meanwhile, the fourth-largest shareholder and a company director, had ceased to be a shareholder of the company.
In what could be early signs of a total change in the company's shareholding and organisation structure, a lot of questions are being raised, chief among these are, why would Kamarudin buy into a firm with a market capitalisation of only RM100mil and why are the company's founders selling off?
Earlier, it was reported that Goh was being pressured to settle a total of RM20mil that he owed OSK Capital Partners. The money was taken to fund a previous rights issue.
A few years ago, mTouche did a major write-off on its investment in GMO Ltd, which was listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and subsequently delisted on Dec 30, 2009. GMO's other major shareholders were Green Packet Bhd and OSK Ventures International Bhd.
In its last quarter of its financial year ended Dec 31, 2009, mTouche made an impairment charge of about RM45.2mil mainly related to its associate company GMO Ltd. That impairment charge was reportedly the last of such provisions that had been taking its toll on the company's earnings.
Due to that major write off, Goh and Tan had committed to pumping in fresh capital into mTouche, hence had borrowed RM20mil from OSK Capital. It is understood that they have been paying interest on this amount for the last few years.
According to sources, now there is a pressing need to settle the loan presumably due to the impending merger between OSK Holdings Bhd-RHB Capital Bhd.
Initially, this was to be done via an arrangement which would see Goh sell off some of his shares in the market to help settle the loan. A takeover of his company was never in the plan, in Goh's view. However, Goh has been made to understand that a takeover is now on the cards. He is now being pressured to sell off his remaining block of shares to a selected group of people to settle his loan, sources say.
It is not immediately known the reason for this nor why there does not seem to be any other options available. Needless to say should this happen, Goh who is also executive chairman of mTouche will lose his control over the company.
Sources say the plan is for the new shareholders, which may include Kamarudin to use mTouche as a platform to obtain a Government project related to mTouche's expertise.
mTouche made a net loss of RM4.7mil on revenue of RM43.7mil for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2011 and had cash and balances of RM21.1mil at Dec 31 2011. The company in 2010, fresh after making its last major impairment charges, said that it would continue to expand aggressively regionally.
Singaporean Goh is the founder of mTouche Pte Ltd (MPL) and a major contributor to the setting-up of MPL's pioneering operations in Singapore.Under Goh, mTouche has grown and expanded into other South-East Asia markets such as Malaysia , Indonesia and Thailand with local offices set up in each one of these countries.
The group is one of the mobile technology platform service providers in the world to have direct server connections to all mobile network operators in Singapore , Malaysia , Indonesia and Thailand .
In 2010, it held the number one position locally, in the mobile pure-play arena, with more than half a million subscribers subscribing to its mobile device-based social networking service called JuzFrens.
1 comment:
This is really one of the best article regarding various stocks, i always follow these guidelines to make huge profit from share market.
Post a Comment