Scomies/Scomi Group - Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan

The buyers of the 268.79 million Scomi Energy Services Bhd shares that crossed ownership included parties other than Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan, with the single largest buyer being Paul Poh, a former long-serving employee of the Hong Leong group.

The block of shares belonging to Standard Chartered Private Equity Ltd, which amounted to 11.48%, had been up for sale since late 2013 and posed an overhang to the share price.

Scomi Energy has been bulking its order book and tipped to win a contract to develop a marginal oil field.

Poh, who is said to maintain a close relationship with Quek, bought about 40% of the block of Scomi Energy shares via his private investment vehicle Caprice Capital. Quek, the major shareholder of the Hong Leong group, took up the second largest portion of 30% or 80 million shares.

There were two other institutional shareholders who also jumped at the opportunity to pick up a block in Scomi Energy – Norway’s oil fund, Norges and Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH). Norges, one of the world’s largest sovereign funds, took up 30 million shares, while LTH bought 50 million.

Norway’s Norges fund had in 2013 taken up 18 million shares in another local oil and gas services firm Daya Material Bhd, indicating the sovereign fund’s appetite for small stakes in Malaysian companies in that sector.

This new group of investors of Scomi Energy are said to have been attracted to the later’s drilling fluids and drilling waste management business.

Speculation that it is close to securing a risk service contract from Petroliam Nasional Bhd to develop a marginal oilfield in the Ophir cluster, off the coast of Terengganu.

At the Scomi Group level, IJM Corp emerged as a shareholder with an interest of 10%. IJM’s stake can go up to about 24% if the construction giant converts a RM110mil convertible debt paper issued by Scomi Group.

The entry of IJM and the subscription of the convertible debt papers stabilised the financials of Scomi Group, that is led by group chief executive officer Shah Hakim Zain who is also its major shareholder.