The Star Online > Business
Tuesday March 13, 2012
EPF goes on selling spree
It disposes of RM441mil worth of shares on March 7
By CHOONG EN HAN
han@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) sold a whopping RM441.09mil worth of Malaysia-listed equities on March 7 alone, in line with its trend of active disposals over the last two weeks.
Bursa Malaysia filings showed that on March 7, the EPF along with its portfolio managers dumped a total 83.68 million shares on the open market, substantially more than the 7.4 million shares it had acquired the same day.
The number of shares disposed of represents almost half the total volume traded that day, which stood at 173.14 million shares.
Fund managers reckon that the fund was merely taking profit but its aggressive selling had dragged the FBM KLCI down from its all-time high last week.
The FBM KLCI ended 10.47 points lower at 1,574.83 that day from 1,594.74 on Monday.
“It seems that the portfolio managers under EPF are taking a breather after the market climbed to near all-time highs.
“The number is substantial, and definitely the index would be down from the disposal. Filings next week will show whether the fund has continued with its selling spree this week,” said a fund manager.
Under the Companies Act 1965, substantial shareholders need only notify the listed company of the shareholding transaction within seven days.
Among the biggest disposals on March 7 were 11.43 million shares in Telekom Malaysia Bhd, 10.72 million shares in Axiata Group Bhd, and 10.23 million shares in YTL Corp Bhd.
EPF's divestment of shares has been going on for the last two weeks.
Most notably, between Feb 28 and March 1, it had disposed of about 30.3 millions shares in Maybank.
It had also early this month sold 10.7 million shares in UMW Holdings Bhd, 8.5 million shares in CIMB Group, 6.5 million shares in Telekom Bhd, six million shares in DiGi.Com Bhd, 3.7 million shares in IJM Corp Bhd, and 3.2 million shares in IOI Corp Bhd.
Meanwhile, EPF chief executive officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol is reported to have said that the EPF had not distorted the market.
“It is all unintentional. We transact over three million shares at any one time; of course the market would be distorted,” he said.
In another development, the EPF is expected to start distributing portions of the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia land in Sungai Buloh by June.
It is leading the development of the proposed prime township development via Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the EPF.
马 到 功 成. Success is when the horses come. Success goes only to those who dare and act, it seldom goes to the timid. The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.
