KUALA LUMPUR: Businessman Datuk Siew Mun Chuang has surfaced as a substantial shareholder of Scomi Group Bhd, controlling almost 62.5 million shares or about 5.3% equity interest in the oil and gas company, after acquisition on the open market. Siew acquired a chunk of shares on Aug 28, making him a substantial shareholder, according to a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday. Siew is managing director of the Oriental Group of Restaurants. He holds stakes in many companies which are linked to Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed of the Maju group fame. According to Bloomberg, Siew has about 8.4% in Australia-listed Avalon Minerals Ltd, and is deputy chairman of the mineral exploration company. The largest shareholder of the company is Abu Sahid, who has about 15% stake. Siew is an independent and non-executive director of building materials manufacturer Ipmuda Bhd and has about 4.16% equity interest. Abu Sahid holds 8.9% and his Maju group has about 22% in Ipmuda. Siew is also an independent non-executive director of Kinsteel Bhd and Perwaja Holdings Bhd, in which Abu Sahid has substantial shareholdings as well. According to reports, Siew is a director of Bright Focus Sdn Bhd, a private vehicle of Abu Sahid. A check on Scomi Group’s annual report indicated that Abu Sahid had 10.21 million shares or 0.87% of Scomi Group as at end- April this year. Executives close to Scomi said Siew could have come into the group to capitalise on a restructuring which has been ongoing for the past few months. The first part of the restructuring entails an 18.5 sen capital repayment which has been concluded. One of the aspects of the exercise is that the Scomi Group has proposed to merge its oilfield services and associate company, Scomi Marine Bhd’s offshore support services, to create a new business unit. Under the plan, Scomi Group will sell 76.08%-owned Scomi Oilfield to Scomi Marine, in return for Scomi Marine shares. Subsequently, Scomi Group will make an offer for sale of its Scomi Marine shares. The proceeds are to pare down the group’s debts. According to Scomi Marine’s annual report for the financial year 2011, Scomi Group had a 42.71% equity interest or 313.04 million shares in Scomi Marine. Scomi Marine closed yesterday at 33.5 sen, down half a sen. As at June 30, Scomi Group had cash and equivalent of about RM255.42 million. The company had short-term borrowings of RM710.9 million and long-term debt commitments of RM386.52 million. For the six months ended June 30, Scomi Group posted a net profit of RM19.54 million on a revenue of RM850.08 million. For the previous corresponding period, the company registered a net profit of RM25.02 million from RM786.05 million in sales. Siew is known to have grown the Tai Thong Restaurant Sdn Bhd chain when he took over in 1980, and grew the company into a diversified food and beverage group. He floated its shares on the then Second Board of the local stock exchange in 1997 under the TT Resources Bhd banner. Siew was managing director of TT Resources until end-August 2000, and served as a non-executive director until 2002. However, Tai Thong was delisted after it fell into financial woes. Prior to his stint at Tai Thong, Siew was with PriceWaterhouseCoopers from 1973 to 1979. Over a span of two weeks, Scomi Group has gained close to 40% or nine sen, hitting a high of 30 sen. It closed yesterday at 27 sen. This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 5, 2012.