Three new names at Langkah Bahagia

PETALING JAYA: Three new names have emerged in Langkah Bahagia Sdn Bhd, which owns a substantial stake, through Vertical Theme Sdn Bhd, in Alliance Financial Group Bhd (AFG), the country’s smallest banking group by assets.

Filings to the stock exchange showed last Friday that Ong Beng Seng, Ong Tiong Sin and Seow Lun Hoo have emerged as shareholders in Langkah Bahagia after Lutfiah Ismail disposed of her entire stake in the company to them. According to reports, Lutfiah was a board member in AFG but her name does not appear as a director in the report for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2015.

Vertical Theme, 51% owned by Langkah Bahagia and 49% owned by Duxton Investments Pte Ltd, has a 29.06% stake in AFG. Duxton represents the Singaporean government’s investment arm, Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd. Effectively, Langkah Bahagia, which used to be linked to former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, has a 14.8% indirect stake in AFG through its stake in Vertical Theme with Temasek holding a 14.2% indirect stake.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd analyst Desmond Ch’ng said in a report yesterday that the changes could be positive for AFG as a stronger strategic shareholder could add value to the banking group. “With the recent change in shareholding at Langkah Bahagia, we will be watching the space for further corporate developments down the road,” he said, maintaining a “buy” call with an unchanged target price of RM4.60.

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