Star : Samsudin starts afresh and makes Malaysia his base again
Yap Yok Foo
16 August 2002
Samsudin starts afresh and makes Malaysia his base again
UNLIKE in 1999, Datuk Samsudin Abu Hassan’s attempt to return to
corporate Malaysia this time around is for real.
He has stationed himself at his office at Wisma Socfin and intends to
make Malaysia his base again after having made an unexpected exit to
South Africa some eight years ago.
Samsudin, who is more known as Sam, wants to start afresh and begin
small. He is talking about growing a business rather than merely
remaining as an investor in going for big things.
“I have finally found my home in Seacera Tiles Bhd. It would be my
base to spearhead my investments in corporate Malaysia,” Samsudin said
in an interview yesterday.
Three years ago, he made a similar attempt to buy a stake in Bolton
Bhd. The news drove Bolton’s share price to around RM6, but when the
deal fizzled out, many investors were left holding the stock.
“Why would I invest RM20mil if I am not committed. The investment may
be small by my standards but I am not going into big things and
getting into trouble. I want to start small,” he said.
To Samsudin – once dubbed the man with the Midas touch – the stock
market was “just getting okay” and he felt the timing was right after
about five years of correction. This was on top of a resilient
economy.
He admitted that his earlier foray was “premature.” His children were
still young then and he also had not fully restructured his
investments in South Africa, with the New Republic Bank he had bought
facing tough times and soaring non-performing loans.
“Now I am ready as I have fully restructured all the companies there
and sold the bank. I can now concentrate my efforts on building my
business here,” Samsudin said. “I also owe the country a lot and it is
about time I bring back my skills, expertise and capital.’’
Samsudin, a chartered accountant by profession, moved to South Africa
after marrying Datin Melleney Samsudin at end-1994.
Then he made South Africa his home and business base after selling his
stakes in Landmarks Bhd, Aokam Perdana Bhd, Granite Industries Bhd,
Kelanamas Industries, Cold Storage (M) Bhd, Perusahaan Sadur Timah
Malaysia (Perstima) Bhd and Dataprep Holdings Bhd.
On speculation that he and his wife are parting ways and that she gets
to keep the South Africa investments, he said: “It is not true; we are
not parting. We have agreed that I would spend more time here and she
would take care of our family business there although we have a
management team there.’’
According to Samsudin, he still has 1,400 acres yet to be developed in
South Africa and 12 buildings (retail, office and commercial) in his
name there that are tenanted.
He also has a South Africa-based trading and distribution centre which
imports wood products into Malaysia and exports foodstuff from here.
It has a monthly turnover of US$2mil.
Apart from Seacera, Samsudin has a 19% stake in Mitrajaya Sdn Bhd. He
also owns two manufacturing plants – in Tasik Gelugor and Sadao in
south Thailand – producing rubber wood components, and chalking up a
combined monthly revenue of RM2.5mil.
The two plants supply about 600 cu m of processed components to
KLSE-listed Latitude Tree Holdings Bhd, which is why Samsudin has been
offered a 10% stake in the company.
At 46, Samsudin is today more down-to-earth. He sees a lot of
opportunities here and works about 8 to 12 hours daily to make things
work for him.
During the 1993 super-bull run, he had a strong investor following who
would keenly invest in and ride with the rise in prices of stocks
linked to him.
Would he be able to do that again?
“I don’t know.…what do you think? I do not owe people money and am
trying my best. It is really for people to judge. Eight years is a
long time.
Some can still remember me and there are also new investors who may
not know me. I am going to be measured by my performance and returns
on investments. At the end of the day, we must make money and then
everyone is happy,” he said.
Samsudin did not say if he was eyeing other companies but added that
many people were inviting him to join their boards, a decision he is
still pondering.
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Samsudin buys 20% stake in Seacera for RM19mil
By B.K. SIDHU
DATUK Samsudin Abu Hassan has bought a 20% stake in KLSE second-board
company Seacera Tiles Bhd for about RM19mil.
He is said to have bought the shares over the past two days via
married deals from three shareholders who have reduced their stakes in
the company.
They are Datuk Azizi Yom Ahmad, Tan Sri Prof Dr Yom Ahmad and Alias
Mohd Salleh.
The first block comprising 3 million shares, representing a 7.5%
equity stake in Seacera, was purchased at RM2.48 per share on
Wednesday. Another block of 4.5 million shares, representing a 12.4%
interest, was acquired at RM2.50 each yesterday.
Seacera closed 1 sen higher at RM2.20 yesterday. Based on that price,
Samsudin is paying a 30-sen premium for the shares. The stock has
risen by 52 sen since July 15 on rumours that Samsudin was eyeing a
stake in the company.
He said that paying a premium for a company with a strong cashflow of
about RM8mil a year and good growth potential was fair.
“The stake may not be that substantial but it would have a big
influence. If you cannot call the shots in a company, why pay a
premium? Why do I need to buy Seacera if I cannot be in the driver’s
seat,” he told Star Business yesterday.
Samsudin has yet to be offered a board seat as the deals have just
been completed. Nevertheless, he said the deals were “cordial and
mutually agreed by all parties.’’
Alias, Azizi and his father Yom Ahmad had jointly held about 30% of
Seacera before the deals. Perbadanan Nasional Bhd has a 4.76% stake
and Grand Monarch Corp Bhd, 4.07%.
Yom Ahmad is chairman of Seacera. The other board members are Azizi,
Soong Teck Onn, Dr Yoong Kin Pin, Ghazali Salamat and Datuk Mohamed
Salleh Bajuri. A director, Zahari Kechik, resigned last week.
Why Seacera?
“I am getting into the tile business because I must have something to
package it properly. Eventually, it would be an industrial-based
company,” he said.
Last week, Seacera purchased an 80% stake in Quantum Integration Sdn
Bhd (QISB) for RM20mil. QISB holds the entire 100% equity in Sam Long
Chemicals Industries (M) Sdn Bhd, which manufactures biaxial
orientated polypropylene film used in the packaging industry. Its
plant is located in Rawang in Selangor.
Samsudin said QISB might be listed on the Mesdaq market by year-end or
next year.
“The listing of QISB would add more value to the group. The injection
of QISB into Seacera would bring in about RM5mil to RM6mil profit and
that is quite reasonable. With the combined group turnover, revenue
could double,” he said.
For the year ended Dec 31, 2001, Seacera had posted a group turnover
of RM43.9mil and an operating pre-tax profit of RM7.03mil.