KUALA LUMPUR (July 31): Datuk Seri Dr Jacky Pang Chow Huat, founder and managing director of Sanichi Technology Bhd, has emerged as a substantial shareholder of Apex Equity Holdings Bhd, with a 9.69% or 19.6 million shares in the stockbroking firm.

Pang bought an additional 10.22 million shares in the company last Wednesday (July 26), according to the group's filing, which did not reveal the purchase price.

Based on Apex Equity’s closing price of RM1.22 last Wednesday, a back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates that Pang could have acquired the stake for about RM12.47 million.

Pang is now Apex Equity’s second-largest shareholder, after Fun Sheung Development Ltd with a 15.78% stake.

Fun Sheung Development is linked to the late Lim Siew Kim — daughter of the late patriarch of the Genting Group, Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong. Siew Kim was married to the late Dick Chan Teik Huat, the elder brother of Apex's founder, Chan Guan Seng who passed away in 2018.

Meanwhile, Concrete Parade Sdn Bhd — which is controlled by Lim Beng Guan, co-founder of corporate finance firm ZJ Advisory Sdn Bhd, is the third-largest shareholder of Apex with an 8.68% stake.

Pang is not new to the investing fraternity, holding stakes in several listed entities. He hogged the limelight in late March as the businessman sold his 49.76% stake in Computer Forms (M) Bhd after the stock plunged from its peak at around RM2.90 to 22 sen.

Among other companies in which Pang holds a stake include Fitters Diversified Bhd, with an 8.12% stake.

Pang's presence in Apex Equity came after the ACE Group sold down its 14.98% stake in December last year as the regulator claimed Apex Securities, the stockbroking unit of Apex Equity, contravened securities laws "as ACE has become a controller of Apex Securities when ACE is not a fit and proper person" to do so.

The ACE Group bought its stake from Guan Seng in September 2017. A year later, he passed away and his death created a leadership vacuum at Apex, which has yet to be filled.

Subsequently, the ACE Group emerged as a major shareholder of Apex with a 25% stake. However, it was later reprimanded by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), noting that it was deemed “not a fit and proper person” to “become a controller of Apex”. The SC instructed ACE IB to sell down its shareholding in Apex.

In December 2022, the ACE Group sold off its stake and ceased to be a substantial shareholder of Apex.

There has been keen interest in the buyer(s) of the block of shares held by the ACE Group, with expectations that the new substantial shareholder will also need to meet the SC's requirements to be a "fit and proper" entity.

Apex Equity’s shares fell one sen at RM1.16, giving the stockbroking firm a market capitalisation of RM248 million.

Sanichi’s shares was unchanged at two sen, translating into a market value of RM28 million.