Zahid’s son-in-law Saiful Nizam ceases to be Jiankun’s substantial shareholder

• Saiful Nizam, the son-in-law of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, was first appointed to the board of Jiankun as an independent non-executive director in April 2021. He was then appointed as an executive director of the group in March 2022.

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 29): Datuk Saiful Nizam Mohd Yusoff, who is the president of Jiankun International Bhd, has ceased to be a substantial shareholder of the loss-making property development and construction group.

He sold one block of 15 million shares or a 3.178% stake via open market at 20 sen apiece on Thursday (Dec 28), amounting to RM3 million, according to the group’s filing.

This leaves him with 8.5 million shares or a 1.801% stake in Jiankun.

The group’s largest shareholder is Eclipse International Sdn Bhd with a 14.83% stake, after subscribing for 70 million shares via a private placement on Dec 22.

Saiful Nizam, the son-in-law of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, was first appointed to the board of Jiankun as an independent non-executive director in April 2021. He was then appointed as an executive director of the group in March 2022.

In October 2022, he was appointed as the group’s executive deputy chairman before being redesignated as president in December 2022.

Saiful Nizam also sits on the board of SMTrack Bhd as an executive director.

Last week, Jiankun announced a plan to buy a 99.99% stake in Penang-based Oriental Link Properties (M) Sdn Bhd (OLPSB) from the privately held property development company's two directors Lee Khoon Eng and Lee Phaik Choo for RM9.5 million, in a move to venture into property development in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia.

Khoon Eng currently holds a 99.2% stake in OLPSB and Phaik Choo 0.79%, while the remaining 0.01% is still being held by its other director Ong Cheng Tat.

Jiankun's net loss widened to RM8.23 million for the quarter ended Sept 30, 2023, from RM2.2 million a year earlier, as it incurred a share-based expense of RM5.72 million for the granting option to eligible employees under share issuance scheme.

This was despite a nine-fold increase in revenue from RM112,000 to RM1.04 million, mainly due to the construction of One Le Tower in Klebang, Melaka

Shares of Jiankun were half a sen or 2.63% lower at 18.5 sen at the time of writing on Friday, giving it a market value of RM87.32 million.

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