KUALA LUMPUR: A major realignment in the shareholding structure of AppAsia Bhd, the world's second largest secure audit confirmation services provider, is poised to take place as early as next week.
Some 4.5 million AppAsia shares were traded off market yesterday at 56 sen a piece.
It is understood that the same fund had acquired 13 million shares on July 21 at 38 sen a piece.
The fund may make additional purchases in the coming days, to meet investing criterias.
The investment house, which manages 16 smaller funds, currently provides annual returns of between nine per cent and 30 per cent.
The bulk of its investment goes into real estate, infrastructure, energy/oil and gas and technology with the objective of generating long-term revenue stream from the assets.
It also has a clear cut policy that purchases made are with a view to acquire effective control with a clear exit strategy.
The interest in AppAsia is because the fintech company recently secured a contract that gives it a monopoly as the sole service provider for an electronic bank confirmation platform in collaboration with the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA).
AppAsia recently launched its eConfirm.my ,the first and only industry-wide electronic bank confirmation platform providing electronic bank confirmation to all the auditors and banks operating in Malaysia.
The agreement with MIA will last for 12 years until 2030, with a pay-per-transaction revenue model.
The usage fee is RM15 per successful confirmation, thus generating income on a recurring basis.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's research team values the fintech company at 68 sen a share on the premise that AppAsia's 2021 pre-tax profit would jump by as much as 400 per cent to RM11.2 million from RM2.7 million.
It is understood that the funds recent purchase of AppAsia shares' had more to do with expanding eConfirm.my platform to Singapore, the Phillipines, Thailand and Vietnam.
AppAsia is only the second company in the world which has a viable and commercially acceptable industry-wide electronic bank confirmation platform for auditors.
Its sole rival is Confirmation, the maker of online audit confirmation software operating in 170 countries, handling transactions in excess of US$2 trillion, which was acquired by Thomson Reuters in July 2019.