Tony Tiah tightens grip on TA Global

KUALA LUMPUR: TA Global Bhd executive chairman Datuk Tony Tiah Thee Kian has continued to accumulate shares in the firm over the past two months, raising his direct stake in the company to 12.23%.

Besides his direct stake in TA Global, Tiah also owns 31% in TA Enterprise Bhd, which is the single largest shareholder of TA Global, holding a 60.17% equity stake in the property company.

Through TA Enterprise alone, Tiah holds an effective stake of 18.65% in TA Global. This means with his direct equity interest, the seasoned stockbroker controls about 30.88% — not too far from the 33.3% threshold of a mandatory general offer.

Tiah has been actively accumulating shares in TA Global, with the purchase of 8.03 million shares on the open market since May 12. Its share price has been hovering between 31.5 sen and 32.5 sen in the past three weeks.

According to a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Tiah bought 84,300 shares for 32 sen a share yesterday.

TA Global is among the landowners that own sizeable prime tract in the KLCC vicinity. The company has over the years invested in properties and hotels in Australia and Canada, which include the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in Sydney, Australia, and Aava Whistler Hotel in Canada. The company made the news recently as its wholly-owned unit Crystal Caliber Sdn Bhd (CCSB) commenced arbitration proceedings against Saudi royalty-owned Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI).

This follows a dispute between the parties relating to the breach of the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) dated April 25, 2012, concerning a resort property in Thailand. The dispute arose from breaches by KHI of the SPA, whereby KHI had agreed and covenanted to pay CCSB any tax liability and cost before May 31, 2012.

The estimated amount of claims in the Request for Arbitration by CCSB is in respect of the withholding tax liability claimed by the Phuket Revenue Office and amounts to RM13.05 million. In terms of financial performance, TA Global posted a weak set of financial results in the fourth quarter ended January (4QFY15). It posted a net loss of RM2.51 million from a profit of RM50.45 million in the previous corresponding quarter.

According to its 4Q financial statement, TA Global’s performance was dragged down by foreign exchange (forex) loss on Singapore dollar-denominated borrowing upon the weaker ringgit, realised upon the dissolution of foreign subsidiaries, and fair value loss on investment securities. It noted that despite higher investment interest income, the current year’s 4Q results were dragged down by forex losses. Revenue also fell 22.3% to RM180.02 million from RM231.76 million in 4QFY14.

For FY15, net profit rose 27.7% to RM144.9 million from RM113.45 million. Revenue was also higher by 9.4% to RM757.81 million from RM692.42 million. Net tangible assets stood at RM2.16 billion.

This article first appeared in The Edge Property pullout, on June 3, 2015.