Serba Dinamik MD forced to sell further 62 million shares, lowering stake to 24%
KUALA LUMPUR (July 2): Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd largest shareholder and group managing director Datuk Dr Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah has been forced to trim his stake in the company again this week.
In a bourse filing yesterday, the Serba Dinamik MD announced that he had disposed of 61.71 million shares on Tuesday, citing "forced selling" as the reason.
The latest disposal leaves him with 896.05 million shares, which translates into a 24.16% stake in the company.
Prior to being forced to sell 46.3 million shares on Monday, Abdul Karim held one billion shares equivalent to a 27% stake in the company.
In terms of share price performance, the counter rebounded yesterday to close 15.15% or five sen higher at 38 sen from the 33 sen on Wednesday.
During the morning trading session today, Serba Dinamik rose 1.32% or one sen to 38 sen, valuing it at RM1.43 billion.
It was the most actively-traded counter on the local bourse at the time of writing, registering a trading volume of 247.05 million shares.
On Wednesday, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) announced that it had ceased to be a substantial shareholder of Serba Dinamik after selling a block of 96 million shares or 2.57% on the open market on June 25.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the latest transaction leaves the EPF with 185.08 million Serba Dinamik shares or just under 5% of the group.
The EPF is the second institutional fund to cease as a substantial shareholder of Serba Dinamik. On June 1, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP) disposed of 26.03 million shares to reduce its stake to 4.53% from 5.24% previously.
Serba Dinamik is at the centre of a maelstrom arising from an auditing dispute with its former external auditor KPMG after the latter highlighted discrepancies involving transactions to the tune of RM4.54 billion.
Abdul Karim has repeatedly stated that Serba Dinamik’s management has done nothing wrong in regard to the audit issues flagged by KPMG.
Meanwhile, EY has accepted Serba Dinamik's offer to be its independent auditor, with additional conditions.
EY requires a written confirmation from Serba Dinamik’s former external auditor KPMG that cooperation in the form of access and information will be provided to EY for the purpose of understanding the alleged irregularities and anomalies identified, such as the confirmation process of matters sent to identified customers and the relevant work papers, including confirmations and correspondences in relation to the findings and concerns raised.
Serba Dinamik is currently awaiting a response from KPMG on EY’s request.
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/serba-dinamik-md-forced-sell-further-62-million-shares-lowering-stake-24
