Kuchai hits limit-up; surges most in three years

KUALA LUMPUR: Kuchai Development Bhd shares saw its share price hit limit-up on Friday, rising 30%, the biggest move in over three years.

Its shares hit a high of RM2.28, up 52%, or 29.55% at noon. Over 4.48 million shares exchanged hands. Its trading volume was about 152 times the 20-day average. In the past month, Kuchai gained 57%. The counter is trading at 5.7 times trailing 12-month earnings per share. 

StarBiz Premium reported that Kuchai is poised to be a major beneficiary from the impending listing of Great Eastern’s insurance arm in Malaysia.

Kuchai is the sixth largest shareholder with 3.03 million shares in Great Eastern Malaysia’s parent company, Great Eastern Holdings Ltd (GEH) that is listed in Singapore.

GEH in turn wholly owns Malaysian based Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Bhd that is likely to go for a listing to comply with Bank Negara’s ruling requiring insurance companies to have at least 30% local equity participation.

The stake is reported to fetch a value of RM4.1bil (US$1 billion). When the listing happens, the anticipation is for GEH to declare a bumper dividend, which would benefit Kuchai.