The stories on PDZ Holdings Bhd (PDZ) are just getting hotter by the day! Talk has it now that Malaysia’s billionaire tycoon, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary may be eyeing a controlling stake in PDZ.

This comes in just after PDZ’s largest shareholder Pelaburan Mara Bhd had disposed of its entire shareholding of 50.62 million shares or a 5.71 per cent stake in the company.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on July 9, PDZ said the disposal of the shares were done in the open market on July 3. Interestingly, the selling by Pelaburan Mara did not deter the buying pattern in the stock.

The shares still traded actively on Thursday (July 9). It was also the most actively traded stock across the bourse. PDZ shares were heavily traded, with its price rising 11.5 sen or 127.78 per cent to 20.5 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM181.75 million.

The stock rose as high as 23 sen in early morning trade and a total of 590 million shares were traded. On Wednesday (July 8) a total 1.33 billion shares exchanged hands.

The July 8 trading could be pointed to recent news mentioning that PDZ has won a RM600 million contract in China from a large e-commerce platform operator. The shares, which were trading at three sen apiece at end-2019, have been climbing since the group returned to the black in its first quarter ended March 31, 2020 with a net profit of RM130,000, compared with a net loss of RM437,000 a year earlier.

Back to Syed Mokhtar, we think he could be interested in PDZ and is looking at a synergistic value between the company and MMC, which could help widen his business empire.

PDZ is involved in the container liner business and logistics. According to its website, it operates six vessels that cover domestic and regional trade between Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Myanmar.

MMC’s business under the ports and logistics division include the operations of Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd, Johor Port Bhd, Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, Penang Port Sdn Bhd, Tanjung Bruas Port Sdn Bhd and Kontena Nasional Bhd.

Internationally, MMC has presence in Saudi Arabia via Red Sea Gateway Terminal Company Ltd, a container port terminal within the Jeddah Islamic Port.