KUALA LUMPUR (April 8): Datin Leong Kim Fong has emerged as a substantial shareholder in Eden Inc Bhd and TWL Holdings Bhd, after acquiring the shares of these two companies within a month.

In a bourse filing on Monday, Eden Inc announced that Leong had acquired 35.21 million shares through private placement. This brought her total shares held in the company to 55.99 million shares, representing an 11.08% direct stake.

In an earlier announcement, Eden Inc said it had completed the issuance of new shares consisting of 45.94 million new shares, representing 10% of the total number of issued shares, at an issue price of 14.2 sen apiece.

This translates to proceeds of RM6.52 million, compared to its initial target of RM7.51 million, primarily aimed at enhancing and upgrading Underwater World Langkawi.

Meanwhile, in a separate bourse filing dated March 21, TWL announced that Leong had in mid-March acquired a total of 380 million shares in the company in off-market transactions, making her a substantial shareholder in the company with a 6.9% stake.

In January, TWL aborted and withdrew its application for a proposed private placement which aimed to raise between RM13.38 million to RM23.51 million for property development. The proposed private placement comprised 810.8 million new shares, representing not more than 10% of the total number of issued shares.

TWL added that the board might consider other corporate exercises to enhance shareholders’ value, including alternative methods of fundraising to meet its funding requirement.

At Monday's close, shares of Eden Inc remained unchanged at 16 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM81 million. TWL also saw its share price unchanged at three sen, valuing the group at RM171 million.