By Khairie Hisyam
Fresh from rumours linking him to Eastland Equities recently, Mohd Nazifuddin Najib, son of prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, has emerged as a substantial shareholder in paints and coatings company SerSol Bhd.
Mohd Nazifuddin Najib
His entry into SerSol follows the appointment of Mohamed Ridzuan Nor Mohammed, son of former minister Nor Mohammed Yakcop, as managing director of the company on Sept 3, 2013.
Based on a series of Bursa filings today, Nazifuddin along with Lim Kim Chai now indirectly hold a 20.76% stake in SerSol, via SerSol Holdings Sdn Bhd.
SerSol Holdings has 40 million shares or 20.76% in Sersol.
In a brief phone conversation Nazifuddin told KiniBiz that he saw value in SerSol.
“There is good value in the company, I believe we can grow it…the paint business is a RM2 billion a year industry,” he said.
Nazifuddin added that SerSol may venture into the supplying of paint for seafaring vessels.
“Anti corrosive paint for use on seafaring vessels…We can be very competitive in this segment,” he said.
For its six months ended June this year SerSol suffered a net loss of RM1.1 million on the back of RM8.1 million in revenue.
On how much he had paid for the 20.76%, Nazifuddin declined to comment.
SerSol Holdings was controlled by brothers Tan Fie Jen and Tan Fie Ping. Fie Ping was the former managing of SerSol while Fie Jen is listed as an executive director in the company’s 2012 annual report.
Mohamed Ridzuan Nor Mohammed’s appointment as managing director followed Tan Fie Ping’s resignation. Tan had cited “personal reasons” for his departure.
In July this year Bursa Malaysia had issued an Unusual Market Activity (UMA) query to SerSol, after the company’s shares surged by 18.84% in a single day’s trading. However the company denied knowledge of any cause for the UMA after checking with its directors and major shareholders.
At the noon bell, SerSol was trading at RM1.05, slightly lower than its opening price at RM1.07.
Over the past three months SerSol’s stock has gained more than 360%, from a mere 20 odd sen to the current levels above RM1.
Nazifuddin’s partnership with Lim is something new. Lim is known to be linked to the Yuk Tung group, which is a well known investment holding company in Hong Kong and Macao, and slated to undertake high end property development projects in Malaysia.
Prior to this partnership with Lim, Nazifuddin was linked to Raymond Chan Boon Siew. The two made a name on the Bursa Malaysia, as companies they ventured into such as Naim Indah Corp, Harvest Court Industries and Metronic Global exhibited meteoric increases in share price.
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