We have said that the compounded actions of the three factions contributed to the strong surge in Lii Hen shares price after August 10, 2004. And the three were Siow Chung Peng, Tan Bee Eng and Chua Lee Seng, and the mysterious buyer of Mayban Securities. 

It is easy to comprehend that Siow Chung Peng was one of the direct causes in the surge of Lii Hen shares price as he was buying all the way since late March 2004. And eventually heaped up a position of 18,333,400 shares or a 30.56% stake in Lii Hen on October 22, 2004.

Notwithstanding of their roles in providing all those false but stock positive announcements to Bursa Malaysia, one would argue that both Tan Bee Eng and Chua Lee Seng have no part in buying up the market float that lifted Lii Hen shares price. We would give the benefit of doubts that the duo did not buy the market float that may contribute in raising the shares price as we have no evidence to this effect, save and except that Tan Bee Eng purchased his own shares through Dato' Goh's account on June 10, 2004. But that does not discount the possibility that they were buying the market float through their nominees. Unfortunately, neither do we have any evidence to this effect.

However, our propensity is that while the duo were not buying the market float, they have aided directly in stoking the fire of Lii Hen shares price by refraining themselves from selling. Stock prices are about supply and demand. You have a strong demand in Lii Hen shares by Siow Chung Peng but a supply stifled by Tan Bee Eng and Chua Lee Seng. Lii Hen shares price surged consequent to this.

This was the other reason why the Muar carpenters have been supplying the Substantial Shareholdings Lists to Dato' Goh all these while, as they wanted to demonstrate to Dato' Goh that they will aid in a higher Lii Hen shares price by not selling in the open market. With those lists, Dato' Goh will be able to know if they are keeping up with their words.

This raises an interesting question. We knew that the Muar carpenters, honchoed by Tan Bee Eng and Chua Lee Seng, granted 5 million Lii Hen shares to Dato' Goh at the price of RM 1.10 a share at the beginning of the two parts exercise in March 2004, in order for him to start the wild fire. Lii Hen shares price had since surged from RM 2.78 on August 10 the day of the UMA announcement to RM 6.80 on October 27, 2004, and none of them was seen selling a single Lii Hen share to the market. Of course we knew they are looking at the en bloc disposal of the 19,200,000 shares. But still, you are looking at a market price of exceeding RM 5 a share for the whole of October 2004 (excluding October 28 and 29 after Lii Hen was designated on October 27, 2004). To a lot of market players and investors alike, a bird in your hand is better than two birds in the bushes. The Muar carpenters should have sold into the rally in October 2004. What were they thinking then? Or the offer from Mayban Securities was so juicy that they decided to hold their horses even though Lii Hen was trading in excess of RM 5 a share in the market?

These questions may well be best answered by the third faction, Shining Degree Sdn. Bhd. (Company No. : 605554-P), the mysterious buyer of Mayban Securities for the 32% stake in Lii Hen from Assets Muar Sdn. Bhd. According to Siow Chung Peng's complaint to the Securities Commission on May 29, 2006, he said that Dato' Goh had on September 18, 2004, faxed him a copy of a draft shares sale agreement from Mayban Securities to Assets Muar Sdn. Bhd. This would mean that the Muar carpenters were already in touch or in the know of a possible deal of their disposal well before the end of August 2004. Lii Hen shares price closed at RM 3.20 on August 30, 2004.

The fact that a draft agreement was prepared by Shining Degree Sdn. Bhd. and forwarded by Mayban Securities to Assets Muar Sdn. Bhd. through Dato' Goh indicated that the sale price would have been tentatively agreed upon by the parties around the end of August 2004. Siow Chung Peng would have been in the know of the sale price since he was in the loop of the exercise and had advocated his intention to take over Lii Hen to Dato' Goh in the early stage.

So there is a sort of a competition to wrest control of the 32% stake between Shining Degree Sdn. Bhd. and Siow Chung Peng here. A race to win over the stake that runs parallelly but concurrently. Derisively, neither of the two contenders have the final say in their pitch for the stake. The one that will ultimately decides is Mayban Securities.

Taking ourselves backward by the time capsule to October 22, 2004, Mayban Securities had already exposed themselves in a bet of RM 50,371,380 position in Lii Hen shares with Siow Chung Peng. Granting another facility to Shining Degree Sdn. Bhd. to purchase from Assets Muar Sdn. Bhd its 19,200,000 Lii Hen shares will inevitably raise that bet to well over hundreds of million ringgit. Based on the Net Tangible Assets Per share of RM 1.41 as in the Annual Report 2004, the total sum of all parts of Lii Hen is only RM 84.6 million.

The bullish undertone of Mayban Securities on Lii Hen can be felt in a Chinese news report on October 27, 2004 published as a headline in the business section of The China Press. It was reported that the owner of Shining Degree Sdn. Bhd. is a substantial shareholder in Maxis Communications Berhad and a disposal of Lii Hen's existing furniture manufacturing business to a foreign listed entity is planned before turning the new Lii Hen into a telecommunication equipments provider.

Little wonder now why Mayban Securities had been upping the ante then.

So it was thought...

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