KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 3): Chemicals manufacturer Hexza Corp Bhd (KL:HEXZA) said on Tuesday it had acquired 50,000 shares in British semiconductor and software design giant Arm Holdings PLC for US$6.36 million (about RM29.48 million), cash, with the intention of deriving dividend income and for potential capital gains.

This translates to a purchase price of about US$127.17 per share. Shares of Arm closed at US$132.88 on Nasdaq on Monday.

Hexza said in a bourse filing that the shares were purchased in the open market on Nasdaq, funded by internal funds. The investment, Hexza added, was non-operational in nature and was undertaken mainly as an alternative to fixed deposits, money market financial products and unit trusts.

"Hexza purchased these quoted securities after taking into consideration the overall market conditions," the group said.

"The directors of Hexza believe that equity investments will provide a higher return for the company over [the] long term compared to fixed deposits, although the risks...may be correspondingly higher," it added.

Based in Cambridge, England, Arm's primary business is the design of central processing unit (CPU) cores that implement the ARM architecture family of instruction sets.

In a separate bourse filing, Hexza said it had disposed of 216,394 shares in American robotics warehouse automation company Symbotic Inc for US$5.14 million, cash.

This translates to a selling price of about US$23.75 per share. Shares of Symbotic closed at US$19.20 on Nasdaq on Monday.

Hexza said the Symbotic shares were purchased between April 28, 2023 and July 26, 2024 at an average cost of US$39.27 per share. The disposal has resulted in a fair value loss of RM12.89 million, according to the group.

"Hexza disposed of these quoted securities to mitigate risk of further losses after taking into consideration the overall market conditions of Symbotic shares," it said.

Proceeds from the disposal will be used for working capital and/or to reinvest in other quoted shares, Hexza added.

Shares of Hexza closed unchanged at RM1.08 on Tuesday, for a market capitalisation of RM216.41 million.