TS Wong making waves

What’s up: Is Wong also involved in Cuscapi?

SO what is billionaire entrepreneur Wong Thean Soon (pic) better known as TS Wong, up to these days?

Wong is well known for his position as the managing director and single largest shareholder of MyEG Services Bhd which has a market capitalisation of RM7.8bil.

Wong’s recent entry in companies such as Excel Force MSC Sdn Bhd and Palette Multimedia Bhd in recent months has stirred much interest.

But is he also involved in Cuscapi Bhd?

Of interest is the fact that Datuk Jayakumar Panneer Selvam is taking up a placement of shares in Cuscapi.

His emergence in Cuscapi has piqued the interest of the market. This is because Jayakumar is also an investor in Excel Force, where Wong is a substantial shareholder. It has also been reported that Jayakumar has been a project director in MyEG, Wong’s mainstay.

Jayakumar has bought into Excel Force with a 2.2% stake and is holding more than 50% the company’s warrants, the company’s annual report shows.

Meanwhile, Wong owns almost 20% stake in Excel Force.

Cuscapi’s placement

Last month Cuscapi announced a plan to raise RM79.8mil by selling new shares and warrants to fund its expansion plans.

Ultimate Quality Success Sdn Bhd (UQS), an investment firm controlled Jayakumar, is said to be taking up two-thirds of the new shares on offer. There were three other individuals who were lined up to take up part of the placement shares as well, namely Ong Chin Hui, Tan Sri Koh Kin Lip and Datuk Dr Tan Kim Heung.

However, less than a month after making that announcement, Cuscapi tweaked the proposal and cut down the down the size of its new share sale due to concerns expressed by UQS.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Thursday, Cuscapi said Jayakumar was concerned about the issuance of shares to the other three investors.

“Subsequently, UQS, being the largest investor, expressed concerns over the issuance of additional shares to the other three investors.

“After the engagement with UQS, Cuscapi held discussions with the other three investors who agreed to mutually terminate their respective subscription agreements with Cuscapi,” the company said.

As a result, the total gross proceeds would be reduced from RM79.8mil to RM53.2mil and the utilisation of proceeds has been revised.

Based on Cuscapi’s current issued capital of 482.92 million shares, UQS would end up with 29.3% of the company’s enlarged share capital and 40 million warrants.

Some market observers reckon that the new shareholder is planning to utilise Cuscapi’s expertise in software development for projects related to the goods and services tax (GST).

Shares in Cuscapi has been on the uptrend, rising more than 250% on a year to date basis.

The loss-making company was last traded at 42.5 sen a share, giving it a market capitalisation of RM207mil.

Clearly, the significant run in Cuscapi’s share price this year is not about the company’s business alone but the potential changes that could take place.

Investors buying into Cuscapi must be banking on the past successes of MyEG, which has done well in terms of its earnings and share price growth over the last decade.

The value of MyEG since its listing has risen by more than 100 times since its Ace Market listing in 2007 from RM69mil then to RM7.8bil currently.

MyEG started as a provider of e-government services with the provision of solutions that are related to the vehicle road tax and drivers’ license renewal among others and has been diversifying its businesses commercial solutions some three years ago.

In the case of Excel Force, Wong first emerged in the company after it acquired an 18.7% stake on April 26 via his vehicle Asia Internet Holdings Sdn Bhd.

A month after Wong’s entry into Excel Force, the stock hit a 52 week high of RM1.96.

On a year to date basis, shares in Excel Force has jumped more than 150%.

The company may be the beneficiary of the Alternative Trading System (ATS) that the Government announced during the tabling of Budget 2018 last week.

ATS is a market venue to bring together purchasers and sellers of securities. It originated in the United States as an alternative to traditional exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq in trading of securities.

Since 2001, more than 50 countries have launched the ATS, providing investors with choices in execution venue.

Excel Force is the market leader in Malaysia for the provision of financial services business solutions where it currently has 90% of the stockbroking Public Gallery Display System and 70% of electronic client ordering system market share in Malaysia.

Wong was also reported to have 3.92% stake in broadband, networking and mobile health company Palette Multimedia Bhd, making him the fifth-largest shareholder in the company, according to Palette’s 2017 annual report.

Since September this year, shares in Palette has spiked up almost three-fold.

As if that weren’t enough, Wong’s name also surfaced this week in the shareholder list of Malayan United Industries Bhd (MUI).

MUI’s annual report showed that Wong has a smallish stake of less than 1% in the company. More interesting is that Jayakumar is also on the list, with 0.38% of the company. This week the share price of MUI rose almost 30%.