KUALA LUMPUR: Aurora Mulia Sdn Bhd, which is fully-owned by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, is still the largest shareholder of integrated media group Media Prima Bhd.
Media Prima today clarified that Aurora Mulia had not sold all of its shares in the group, contrary to reports that it had disposed of its 31.9 per cent stake or 353.82 million shares to an undisclosed buyer.
This was in light of three announcements by Media Prima to Bursa Malaysia titled "'Notice Of Person Ceasing To Be Substantial Shareholder Pursuant To Section 139 Of The CA 2016'" on Monday.
"In light of recent media reports, the company wishes to clarify its shareholding structure in relation to the cessation of Sutera Bakti Sdn Bhd, Tradewinds Group (M) Sdn Bhd and Restu Jernih Sdn Bhd as indirect substantial shareholders of the company via their deemed interest under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2016 in Aurora Mulia Sdn Bhd.
"The aforesaid cessation of deemed interest in yesterday's announcement was regrettably misunderstood to imply that Aurora Mulia and indirectly, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar, have ceased to be substantial shareholder of the company.
"The company would like to emphasise that this clarification is intended to ensure complete transparency and address any potential misintepretationarising from the aforementioned company's announcement to Bursa Malaysia on Oct 7 2024," it added.
Late on Monday, it was reported that Aurora Mulia had ceased to be a shareholder in Media Prima after five years as its largest shareholder.
Aurora Mulia reportedly had emerged as a substantial shareholder in Media Prima when it acquired the 31.9 per cent stake in October 2019.
Media Prima publishes the New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro and owns television channels TV3, 8TV, ntv7 and TV9.
It posted a net profit of RM33.21 million for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2024, up 3.76 times from the RM8.83 million recorded in the same period a year earlier.
Shares of Media Prima went up 2.15 per cent or one sen to 48 sen on Tuesday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM526.87 million.