Pek Kok Sam (photo left), CEO and executive director of Southern Alliance Mining, has seen an increase in his stake in the mining company.

On June 23, Malaysian-incorporated Remparan acquired 25,000 shares of the company from the open market, paying $24,350 in total or 97.4 cents each.

Remparan is wholly-owned by Multiline, also another Malaysian-incorporated company. Pek owns 70% of Multiline while the remaining 30% is owned by his brother Kok Hua.

Pek already holds a direct stake of just over 343.8 million shares, or 70.32%, in Southern Alliance Mining.

With the June 23 purchase, Pek now holds a total stake of 343.87 million shares or 70.33%. Pek last bought shares from the market on March 17, when he acquired 65,000 shares for $39,000 or 60 cents each.

Southern Alliance Mining was listed last June at 25 cents each. On May 8, the company announced it was granted an additional mining lease for iron ore on a new plot of land measuring 394.81 acres (17.2 million sq ft) at Bukit Kepong, Muar District, Johor, Malaysia. The mine belongs to Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar of Johor and is adjacent to the Ma’okil mine, where the company has an existing mining lease and is undertaking its exploration programme.

Pek says he is excited by the timeliness of the development and the opportunities that abound in an environment of high demand for steel ingredients and better iron ore prices. “The mining lease will allow us to continue dedicating our efforts on development and exploration projects,” he says.

Southern Alliance Mining’s primary asset, the Chaah Mine, is now producing around 60,000 tonnes of iron ore concentrates. Besides Chaah, the company has also been granted the right to carry out exploration and mining operations at four potential iron ore mines located in Johor.

On March 31, the company reported revenue of RM152.1 million ($40.3 million) for 1HFY2021 ended Dec 2020, 8% higher y-o-y. However, thanks to better margins, the company recorded earnings of RM51.4 million, 47% higher y-o-y from the preceding year’s RM35 million.

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Director raises stake in hotel and property company Tan Tiong Cheng (photo right), a non-executive independent director of Amara Holdings, recently bought shares in the company for the first time. On June 22, Tan acquired 91,500 shares for $32,940 or 36 cents each. The following day, he bought another 1,400 shares for $511 or 36.5 cents each. The two transactions bring his total holdings to 92,900 shares or 0.02%.

Tan, who joined Amara’s board in June 2018, is better known for his role leading property consultancy Knight Frank. Up until March 31, 2020, he was senior adviser and up till March 2019, he was president of Knight Frank Asia Pacific and up till March 2017, he was executive chairman of Knight Frank’s group of companies. In addition to Amara Holdings, Tan sits on the boards of The Straits Trading Company, UOL Group and Heeton Holdings.

On March 4, Amara announced wholly-owned subsidiary Creative Investments had formed a joint venture with Santarli Capital Venture and Kay Lim Realty to acquire for $47.8 million a freehold residential development at 2 Surrey Road, where the existing Surrey Point is sited.

The site has an estimated total site area of 11,977 sq ft and is allowed for residential development with a gross plot ratio of 2.8. Creative Investments holds a 40% stake in the joint venture while the other two partners hold 30% each.

In FY2020 ended Dec 31, 2020, Amara reported losses of nearly $11.5 million, reversing sharply from earnings of $28.2 million in FY2019. Revenue in the same period was down 42% to $61.1 million from a year ago. The company attributes the poorer performance to effects of the pandemic which hurt its hotel and property business. In FY2020, Amara also booked fair value losses of $16.5 million for its investment properties versus fair value gains of $20.4 million booked in FY2019.

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Photo of Pek by Southern Alliance Mining and photo of Tan by The Edge Singapore/Samuel Isaac Chua

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