KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 18): Impiana Hotels Bhd’s recently appointed executive director Datuk Seri Lee Hock Seng has raised his direct and indirect stake in the company to 21.97%, after acquiring 25.03 million Impiana shares.

Lee, who first emerged as a substantial shareholder of Impiana in August, bought the 25.03 million shares or 3.1% stake at nine sen apiece or RM2.25 million.

With the new shares acquired, Lee has a 14.29% direct stake, and a 7.68% indirect stake held by his spouse Datin Seri Joanne Yew Hong Im.

Lee, the founder of property investment and hospitality group HYM Group, bought 25 million shares from Advance Opportunities Fund (AOF), which in turn ceased to be a substantial shareholder.

AOF, founded by Tan Choon Wee, has seen its shareholding fluctuate as it converted Impiana’s redeemable convertible notes, which it subscribed to, into shares that were disposed of in the market. A total of RM150 million in Impiana's redeemable convertible notes were placed to AOF and Advance Opportunities Fund I back in June 2022.

Other shareholders of Impiana include its executive chairman Datuk Seri Ismail @ Farouk Abdullah, with a 4.53% direct stake and a deemed interest of 6.6% held via Impiana Sdn Bhd.

Impiana operates nine hotels across Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.

For the six months ended June 30, 2023, Impiana's net loss widened to RM6.63 million from RM6.35 million, despite revenue rising 17.09% to RM12.28 million, from RM10.49 million previously. The wider net loss was contributed by higher finance cost at RM4.81 million, from RM3.63 million a year earlier.

At end-June, the group had short-term borrowings of RM5.68 million, and long-term borrowings of RM69.62 million, against cash and bank balances of RM2.25 million.

Shares in Impiana settled unchanged at 9.5 sen on Wednesday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM76.67 million.

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