CEO wants to raise TDC stake
Afzal: I have every intention of continuing to accumulate more shares
PETALING JAYA: Time dotCom Bhd (TdC) chief executive officer Afzal Abdul Rahim says he will continue buying TdC shares to raise his stake in the company.
But unlike other shareholders who bought big blocks in other companies, he said he was merely nibbling in the open market, and that even raising his stake by 1% could take a long time.
“I have every intention of continuing to accumulate more shares in TdC. I have been doing so and will continue to do so,” he told StarBiz.
However, he was quick to err on the side of caution by saying that “it is my own personal long-term view, and as always, I would advise investors to trade based on fundamentals and not sentiments.”
Added Afzal: “The buying is not significant. I have just picked up 0.34% over the past weeks. As long as I have the means, I will continue to do so.”
When asked how many more shares he intended to add, he answered: “I have not thought of that.”
Afzal and his partner Gan Te-Shen own a 36.24% equity stake in TdC, above the 32.8% threshold that would require them to make a mandatory general offer. Afzal, however, pointed out that he had obtained a waiver.
Afzal and Gan’s stake in TdC is held via Pulau Kapas Ventures, in which he holds a 75% equity stake, while Gan, his long-time friend-turned-partner, holds the remaining 25%. Other than Pulau Kapas,
Khazanah Nasional Bhd has an 11% equity stake in TdC.
Afzal first emerged in the then ailing TdC in October 2008 when the shares of the company were trading at 20 sen.
The share price has gone up significantly after he overhauled the business, and in yesterday’s trading, the shares closed eight sen higher at RM4.15 a share.
In a bid to give the company a lifeline, he has injected some of his prized assets into it. The stock was once shunned by the investing and analyst fraternity, but has since popped up on the radar screens of analysts.
Among the assets Afzal had injected into TdC were the AIMS Group, Global Transit Communications (GTC) and Global Transit Ltd (GTL).
The company’s financial performance has improved since Afzal took over, and for full-year 2012, the company reported a profit of RM193mil on the back of RM 419 mil in revenue compared with RM 117 mil and RM 313 mil, respectively, a year ago.