Yen Global soars to record high

PETALING JAYA: Yen Global Bhd’s share price rallied to an all-time high of 92.5 sen, as the company saw the emergence of mobile broadband and networking solutions provider Green Packet Bhd in the Internet of Things (IoT) firm.

The emergence of Green Packet in Yen Global confirms a StarBiz report which was published yesterday.

Yen Global, whose former core business was in apparel production, hit a high of 93 sen in intra-day trading before finishing the day 8% higher to 92.5 sen.

Green Packet also finished up by 4.35% to 24 sen.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Green Packet said it was acquiring a 22% stake in Yen Global at 60 sen per share or a total of RM18.15mil.

The strategic investment is aimed at bolstering Green Packet’s connectivity device business, especially in the South-East Asian region, it said in the statement.

According to Green Packet chief executive officer Kay Tan, the company was pursuing its growth strategy and taking proactive steps in view of recent market developments.

Recall, Taiwanese global provider of wireless broadband solutions and IoT player, Gemtek Technology Co Ltd, had raised its stake in Yen Global to 30% last month.

Gemtek’e earlier entry in June had sealed the position of Yen Global in the telecommunications, and specifically, IoT space.

Yen Global, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Atilze Digital Sdn Bhd, formerly known as VLT Wholesale Sdn Bhd, was recently appointed as authorised distributor for Gemtek products in South-East Asia.

Gemtek is a global manufacturer of connectivity devices, which also contract manufactures close to 30% of Green Packet’s branded products.

Tan said the investment in Yen Global was a “well-weighted decision that goes beyond a play at defence”, and was taken in the best interest of shareholders.

He explained that Atilze, being a distributor for Gemtek, would have access to a broader product portfolio which is in high demand but not offered by Green Packet. These products include home gateway in the wireless category, fixed-wired broadband and IoT products.

“IoT is an attractive proposition to any device player, as it will make up the largest device market in the future.”

IoT has been hailed as the next big digital revolution, connecting millions of everyday objects using inexpensive microsensors so that things like thermostats, cars, door locks and even pet trackers have network connectivity.

In other words, it allows for signals to be sent and received from these objects.

Gemtek, which is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and which reports an annual revenue of over US$1bil, is also a pioneer member of the LoRa Alliance, an open non-profit association for driving the adoption of IoT.

LoRa is an open standard for low power wide area networks, which are created to connect low-power devices such as sensors over a wide area at lower prices.

IoT is an attractive proposition to any device player, as it will make up the largest device market in the future. Kay Tan