The Japanese duo held a 16% stake. Accordingly, Director Y. Watanabe held 11.54 million shares or 8.79% (Rs. 86.5 million) and shareholder Eiji Watanabe held 9.79 million shares or 7.45% (Rs. 73.4 million).
The acquisition was by Fast Gain International Ltd., a connected party to Vijayeswaran. Following the purchase, Fast Gain's stake rose from 5.17% to 21.41%. Vijayeswaran directly holds 71.6% stake. His effective control now at Asia Capital is 93%.
The buy out ends an alleged months-long rift between the Japanese shareholders and Asia Capital senior management over a lack of adequate return on their original investment, as well as other alleged irregularities. The Company has denied these allegations.
In recent months, Asia Capital has carried out a key restructuring and taken new initiatives to revamp its business.
CEO Stefan Abeyesinhe said recently that the company has now undergone an initial restructuring phase following the appointment of Nishan Sumanadeera from Frontier Capital Partners as the Legal and Financial Consultant to ACAP group in September 2020 by key shareholders.
“The management will focus on expanding into new business avenues to broad base group’s revenue streams,” Abeyesinhe said in a statement last month.
Business
Malaysia based investor buys out Japanese investors in Asia Capital
Controlling shareholder, the Malaysia based investor Vijayeswaran S. Vijayaratnam, bought out the Japanese investors in Asia Capital PLC for Rs. 160 million.
Controlling shareholder, the Malaysia based investor Vijayeswaran S. Vijayaratnam, bought out the Japanese investors in Asia Capital PLC for Rs. 160 million.
The exit price for the Japanese investors was Rs. 7.50 per share. Net assets per share of loss-incurring Asia Capital as at 30 September 2020 was Rs. 8.28, down from Rs. 9.01 as at 31 March 2020.
Its highest price during the 30 September 2020 quarter was Rs. 8.60 and its lowest was Rs. 5.50, closing at Rs. 6.90. It closed the December 2020 quarter at Rs. 6.70, down by 3%.
