99 Speedmart founder Lee Thiam Wah emerges as second biggest shareholder in RGTech

99 Speedmart founder Lee Thiam Wah emerges as second biggest shareholder in RGTech

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 12): The founder of the 99 Speedmart retail chain, Lee Thiam Wah, has emerged as the third largest shareholder in retail technology solutions provider Radiant Globaltech Bhd (RGTech), with a 15.77% stake.

RG Tech's bourse filing on Friday (Nov 12) showed that Lee initially acquired 73.78 million shares or a 15% stake in RGTech in off market deals via his company Global Success Network Sdn Bhd.

The sellers were RGTech’s executive director for operations Yap Sin Sang (37.02 million shares) and managing director Yap Ban Foo (36.76 million shares) via their companies Practical Resources Sdn Bhd and Global Merits Sdn Bhd.

The acquisition is estimated to have cost Lee RM27.74 million, with RM13.92 million paid to Sin Sang and RM13.82 million paid to Ban Foo.

After the disposal to Lee, Sin Sang owns 97.95 million shares or a 18.65% stake in RGTech, while Ban Foo controls 129.97 million shares or a 24.75 stake.

Later in the day, RGTech updated Lee’s stake in the company to reflect the sale of another 527,000 shares to him by his spouse, Ng Lee Tieng, at an unspecified price.

Lee though Global Success Network holds 80.91 million shares in RGTech, while Ng holds 1.92 million shares after the disposal on Friday.

Combined, Lee’s current stake in the company stands at 82.82 million shares or a 15.77% stake, according to the updated bourse filing.

According to the filing, Lee has become a substantial shareholder in RGTech due to his indirect interest via Global Success Network and Ng by virtue of Section 8 of the Companies Act 2016.

It is not immediately known what Lee plans to do with RGTech, after emerging as its second largest shareholder.

Notably, Lee’s flagship business 99 Speedmart, along with other major retail chains such as Giant, Guardian, Cold Storage, Parkson, AEON Big and 7-Eleven Malaysia, are currently RGTech’s clients, according to RGTech’s FY20 annual report.

For the six months ended Jun 30, 2021, RGTech returned to black with a RM1.13 million in net profit, compared with a RM506,000 net loss a year earlier, while revenue almost tripled to RM32.91 million from RM12.4 million.

The management of RGTech is optimistic of its prospects, as it had plans to expand its customer portfolio in retail and industrial sectors by combining resources to create synergies from its acquisitions, ARMS and Grand-Flo Spritvest Sdn Bhd.

Its management also noted that it had a healthy balance sheet and robust solutions to capitalise on software, maintenance and support services segments to create a long-term sustainable revenue stream, according to its latest quarterly filing.

RGTech closed 2.5 sen or 5.56% lower at 42.5 sen on Friday, for a market capitalisation of RM223 million.

http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/99-speedmart-founder-lee-thiam-wah-emerges-second-biggest-shareholder-rgtech