Posted by Just88 > 2023-08-19 09:02 | Report Abuse

Why this kind of half baked announcement about dividend policy ? Still haven't found a solution yet ? Or just to stop shareholders from selling to COL ......

Posted by speakup > 2023-08-19 10:36 | Report Abuse

yes i was rather suprised at this half-announcent. it's like just a teaser

Posted by speakup > 2023-08-19 10:37 | Report Abuse

would have prefer Icap to just announce everything rather than just say 'we are coming up with something'

Posted by i3lurker > 2023-08-19 11:07 | Report Abuse

thats
"akan datang"
"next change"

when you use movie terminology its very dangerous.
everyone knows movies are fake.

Its inevitable that some people will associate "akan datang" announcements as fake just like movies are fake.

Posted by MG9231 > 2023-08-19 12:02 | Report Abuse

If I am City London fund manager, buy up more after court case, ask for EGM , Sack fake W Buffet TAN Ting Boo.

Posted by MG9231 > 2023-08-19 12:06 | Report Abuse

Ten years is not too long for a gentlemen to take his revenge since Tan Ting Boo makes City London's fund a lot of difficulty

Posted by MG9231 > 2023-08-19 12:07 | Report Abuse

君子报仇，十年不晚

Posted by edricee > 2023-08-19 12:13 | Report Abuse

@speakup - agree. The dividend policy announcement is a joke and downright insulting to shareholders.

Posted by speakup > 2023-08-19 12:41 | Report Abuse

Did u notice Icap is now at all time high? After adjusted for past 2 special dividends of course.

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-19 17:47 | Report Abuse

For softwares, there is a term for such 'akan datang'thingy - vapor ware, a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is late or never actually manufactured nor officially cancelled. The dual listing exercise is a prime example. Announced with all the fanfare, after several years of WIP (work in progress), quietly cancelled with just a footnote in the accounts.

Posted by speakup > 2023-08-19 18:36 | Report Abuse

Oh yah remember that dual listing thing. Got nationwide roadshow also.

Posted by stockraider > 2023-08-20 11:13 | Report Abuse

If city of london go for dissolution of Icap & we will get back our investment at a fair price base on NAV..................alot of independent investors will support it loh!

Posted by speakup > 2023-08-20 12:45 | Report Abuse

That's in year 2025, if not mistaken

Posted by JohnD0ugh > 2023-08-20 13:36 | Report Abuse

Despite a challenging and turbulent environment over the last 9-10 years, the share price and net asset value (NAV) of icapital.biz Berhad (5108, ICAP), a listed closed-end fund, have reached an all-time high of RM2.86, a feat achieved by only a very few companies listed on Bursa Malaysia and just a tad below its all-time high NAV at RM3.64.

These positive outcomes are a result of the painstaking efforts put in by the Board of ICAP and Tan Teng Boo, its Designated Person. To recapitulate, in its 2022 Annual General Meeting, Teng Boo proposed a slew of measures to generate the said outcomes.

From its inception in Oct 2005 to 2 Aug 2023, the share price and NAV of ICAP have appreciated at an annualised rate of 5.67% and 7.91% respectively, outperforming the MSCI Malaysia index, which gained only 1.77% per annum. However, viewing ICAP's performance on this basis hides the true performance potential of ICAP. Its NAV is at a crucial major turning point. Why?

First, despite an extremely difficult period, the share price and NAV of ICAP have been rallying on a tear for the last 1-year, 2-year and 3-year periods, thanks to the very comprehensive investor relations campaign undertaken by Capital Dynamics and supported by ICAP's Board. The share price and NAV of ICAP have outperformed the MSCI Malaysia by a huge margin. If it is just one year, one may say it is due to plain luck. If it is over 3 years, it has to be due to the investing skills of Tan Teng Boo.

Besides, its NAV discount has also narrowed substantially, allowing investors to enjoy extra returns without any risk. In the last one year up to 3 Aug 2023, ICAP's share price shot up 17.33%, nearly doubled the rise in its NAV.
For a two-year period, ICAP's share price surged 32.90%, also much higher than the 19.20% rise in its NAV. Over a 3-year period ending 3 Aug 2023, ICAP's share price jumped 28.93% while the MSCI Malaysia index plunged nearly 15% in the same period.

Put simply, an investor who put RM1,000 into the MSCI Malaysia index 3 years ago would have seen that investment shrivelled to around RM850. Had the investor put in RM1,000 into ICAP shares, his investment would have risen to RM1,289 or 51.6% more.

Why are we ending ICAP's performance on 3rd August 2023?

This is when ICAP lost its leave application in the Federal Court, allowing a rogue investor to act like a cowboy. The share price of ICAP on 3ld Aug closed at RM2.37, just a sen higher than 2 August 2023. In other words, ICAP's share price on 3 August 2023 did not benefit from the Federal Court decision.

Therefore, the strong performance of ICAP's share price and NAV up to 3 August 2023 were all due to the efforts of its Designated Person, Tan Teng Boo. This point is very important as the long-time Malaysian collaborator of the foreign investor will make all kinds of false claims in an investment forum that he joined in 2019.

Secondly, as explained by Tan Teng Boo in a series of physical nationwide roadshows, although ICAP's NAV has surged, it will substantially benefit in the future from the RM170 mln investments that ICAP has made in the last few years. ICAP's cash holdings of around RM300 mln a few years ago has dropped substantially, down by more than 50%, due to these investments.

For example, ICAP made substantial investments in Capital A (formerly AirAsia) and SAM Engineering in the last few years.

Thirdly, subsequent to the 2022 AGM, and after years of extensive work, the Board and Designated Person of ICAP have made an important breakthrough by formulating an innovative dividend strategy that will further enhance the other measures already implemented to narrow the NAV discount.

In addition, the dividend strategy is being undertaken to address the needs of various shareowners - those seeking long-term capital appreciation, those needing some regular distribution and those who may have to cash in their holdings. This innovative dividend strategy of ICAP, when fully implemented, will further boost its future share price and NAV movements.

As guided by the Designated Person and the Board, ICAP is on the right track but there is still plenty of work to be done. "In time, as the market starts to fully recognise the consistent outperformance of ICAP, it is hoped that its share price will start to trade at a premium, like it used to before certain shareholders came in," said Tan Teng Boo.


i Capital Newsletter Volume 35 Issue 2 (www.icapital.biz)

Posted by FastMoney666 > 2023-08-20 16:13 | Report Abuse

COL crossing 30% ownership will give them an opportunity for a concert party...Their current ownership is about 22% -- they need to buy at least another 8-11% to reach 30-33% or 11 -15 million more shares. If they chase the price all the way to RM 3.5-3.60, iCap discounts will be narrowed or disappeared. Not many of TTB die hard fans will be induced to sell if they make a mandatory offer without any premiums to the NAV.

If COL have been accumulating share price at lower level of first 22% and next 11% at RM 3.5(assumption), they average buying price will be around MYR 2.83. They will sit on around 24% profit to make a mandatory offer at 3.5. It's not a great return after so many years of hardworks.

The most likely scenario is to let iCAP to continue to grow the assets while putting pressure on him to narrow the discounts between NAV and iCAP price. They won't kick out TTB based on 1 simple logic: why kill the golden goose?

TTB on the other hand is quite shrewd, through his newsletter, he has been guiding his subscribers for the first target iCAP price of 3.5 and second target of 4.7. He is playing a psychological warfare with COL....hoping the existing shareholders hold on to their shares or attract others to bid up the price quickly to make it much more expensive for COL to acquire next 8-11% block of shares in the open market.

Buy some chips and Cokes......Sit back and relax and enjoy the show: COL vs TTB.

Posted by Just88 > 2023-08-20 22:12 | Report Abuse

Dividend talk only. Nothing concrete. Dare not announce because TTB does not know how the market will react if the dividend is perceived to be too small. Any sell down will give COL opportunity to collect more.

Posted by MG9231 > 2023-08-21 09:33 | Report Abuse

Same as dual listing cock talk, a gimmick to deceive ignorant shareholders.

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-21 10:12 | Report Abuse

My finance professor's Nobel Prize winning M&M Dividend Irrelevance Theorem in its simplest terms, states that in a world with no taxes, transaction costs, or asymmetric information, the dividend policy of a company should not affect its value. According to this theory, investors can create their own synthetic dividends by selling shares if the company doesn't pay dividends or using dividends received to buy more shares if the company does pay dividends. Its value is mainly in signaling the financial health of the business, like with an increase or a cut. Let's see how TTB's research and innovation can overturn this and be worthy of another Nobel? He is already in contention with his cash being a free call option proposition as opposed to the Black & Scholes Option Pricing theory, another of my professors' Nobel winning contribution to financial research.

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-21 10:25 | Report Abuse

The only exception, in iCap's case, is the very high cash content, which should not be subject to the huge price discount. So if this is paid out in dividend, there should be a theoretical reduction in the price discount since the cash dividend in the hands of shareholders should no longer be discounted.

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-21 10:40 | Report Abuse

For example, if the share is trading at a 40% discount and the cash content is $1, if this $1 is distributed as dividend, the 40 sen discount attributed to it should be taken off the share price, resulting in a reduction of the discount, i.e. the ex dividend reduction in the share price should be less than the dividend declared.

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-21 14:50 | Report Abuse

For those who may be attending the upcoming AGM, here is the link to the company's constitution: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mvdd2blwiqehifymvdm7d/iCap-constitution.pdf?rlkey=o8bdchmdda7gjp3qz9ume3adc&dl=0

Posted by kcchongnz > 2023-08-21 15:01 | Report Abuse

My finance professor's Nobel Prize winning M&M Dividend Irrelevance Theorem in its simplest terms, states that in a world with no taxes, transaction costs, or asymmetric information, the dividend policy of a company should not affect its value. According to this theory, investors can create their own synthetic dividends by selling shares if the company doesn't pay dividends or using dividends received to buy more shares if the company does pay dividends. Its value is mainly in signaling the financial health of the business, like with an increase or a cut. Let's see how TTB's research and innovation can overturn this and be worthy of another Nobel? He is already in contention with his cash being a free call option proposition as opposed to the Black & Scholes Option Pricing theory, another of my professors' Nobel winning contribution to financial research.

Your finance professor Merton Miller and Myron Scholes?

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-21 15:42 | Report Abuse

Yes, correct, still relevant today after more than 50 years. But unfortunately, much less well known here than Mr. TTB.

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-21 15:50 | Report Abuse

The other unorthodox financial statement is the "low risk high returns" stock, which runs counter to the Capital Asset Pricing Model, a foundational concept in modern finance, the relationship between risks and returns.

Posted by RealValueInvestor > 2023-08-22 01:22 | Report Abuse

IF you believe JohnD0ugh, Tang Teng Boo is some kind of financial superman icapable of the impossible, the improbable and the outright ridiculous all at the same time!

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-22 02:49 | Report Abuse

Shareholders have yet to be told how the previous dual listing exercise, which ended up costing the company millions, was supposed to help reduce the share price discount. I can't help but have the deja vu feeling with this yet to be announced dividend policy.

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-22 03:16 | Report Abuse

This is a summary of COL’s recent share purchases as percentage of daily turnover
Date Total COL %
16-Aug 433,000 338,500 78%
15-Aug 384,000 162,600 42%
10-Aug 146,000 136,000 93%
7-Aug 115,800 79,000 68%
Total 1,078,800 716,100 66%
Proof that COL's buying caused the narrowing of the price discount instead of widening it as alleged?

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-22 03:25 | Report Abuse

By stopping COL from buying with the injunction, the company has been mainly responsible for the prolonged deep discount of the share price until the end of the litigation recently.

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-22 03:34 | Report Abuse

Try explaining this to the shareholders who sold at low prices during the injunction period.

Posted by speakup > 2023-08-22 06:08 | Report Abuse

Did u know Icap already up almost rm1 from lowest rm1.95 just 3 months ago

Posted by Integrity. Intelligent. Industrious. 3iii (iiinvestsmart)$€£¥ > 2023-08-23 15:46 | Report Abuse

Shareholders of iCap closed end fund should vote a truly independent director to the board of their company.

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-23 15:56 | Report Abuse

@Integrity The last time some one tried, TTB threatened to resign!

Posted by speakup > 2023-08-23 16:33 | Report Abuse

Good. Then close the fund and return NAV amount

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-23 17:22 | Report Abuse

One of the most important listing rules of Bursa is the timely release of price sensitive information. Since the so-called new dividend policy is going to take care of the price discount problem, by definition, this is price sensitive. So either the company already has it, or don't, no such thing as akan datang. This is not like buying a new business that need to do due diligence and all the various approvals from the authorities. Here, just needs the board's approval and you are good to go. Releasing a 'teaser' is definitely against the spirit of the rule, and put undue uncertainties to the share price, unless the objective is to influence the share price?

Posted by Just88 > 2023-08-23 17:34 | Report Abuse

Don't put hope on the dividend. It is likely to be just a "token of appreciation".

Posted by speakup > 2023-08-23 21:34 | Report Abuse

dividend teaser is obviously to encourage shareholders not to sell at current all time high price

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-24 00:07 | Report Abuse

@speakup Who have been buying and chasing up the prices? COL has not been buying for the past few days, so there are those who bought at all time highs thinking that good times are coming with the new dividend policy.

Posted by speakup > 2023-08-24 07:49 | Report Abuse

the timing of the dividend teaser couldn't be more perfect. it was announced when Icap has moved up to all time high.
and TTB is smart to make it a teaser so he can release this good news a bit by a bit to prevent shareholders from selling at peak.

Posted by speakup > 2023-08-24 07:50 | Report Abuse

ever wonder why TTB didn't release it when Icap was rm2?

Posted by MG9231 > 2023-08-24 11:30 | Report Abuse

@speakup: ask his closed associates buy first, then release such news....

Posted by RealValueInvestor > 2023-08-24 17:04 | Report Abuse

Here's a quote from a piece of research by Numis: "We believe that buybacks can be a useful tool in the fight against discounts, although stress they are never going to be a “silver bullet”. Instead, we believe they can be a very powerful signal from a Board that it is focused on shareholder interests, as well as benefits including NAV accretion, limiting discount volatility and demonstrating confidence in the NAV." A Board that it is focused on shareholder interests - that would be a good thing!

Posted by Patient Investor > 2023-08-24 17:47 | Report Abuse

Meaningful share buy back consist of combination of factor: idle cash on hand + undervalued share price + high business growth.
Eg. the company keep generating high free cash flow which is more than what the company requires to expand, with share price undervalued and management is confident of their business growth, then management will use the money to buy back shares instead of distributing as dividend.

in iCap case, hoarding cash is a bullet to be deploy when opportunity of long term compounder present itself.

I dont think doing SBB to pump up the share price in order for share holders to feel good or exit their position fits icap investment philosophy.
If the fund buy back shares at low, and unload it at high, that's trader mentality.

If you expect icap to do so, you shouldnt buy icap, better consider starting your own close end fund or join a pump and run syndicate instead expecting TTB to exercise such.

I think SBB will indirectly drive up the holdings level within the portfolio, lead to higher concentrated exposure.

Posted by RealValueInvestor > 2023-08-24 20:29 | Report Abuse

@Patient Investor That's for operating companies! For closed end funds which IS what the quote relates to the first two suffice. What could be better than buying a portfolio you already like at a discount? Then if you cancel the shares you enhance the NAV of the remaining shares. What responsible management wouldn't want that?

Posted by Patient Investor > 2023-08-24 22:22 | Report Abuse

@realValueInvestor canceling shares will always enhance NAV/NTA of remaining shares for any company.

The NAV has been going up, but people still complain over the gap between share price and NAV. So its not about the NAV, but the gap. Unless TTB intention is towards liquidating, there's no reason to close the gap using the cash pile.

Assuming Icap did use those cash for SBB few years ago, what will happen to the portfolio by now?

Posted by RealValueInvestor > 2023-08-25 17:58 | Report Abuse

@Patient Investor The NAV would have gone up a lot more if the fund wasn't heavily liquid! What do you mean by "what will happen to the portfolio by now?"?

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-25 23:50 | Report Abuse

The whole point of investing in the stock market is to earn the market risk premium. So if the NAV has gone up say 10 million at 60% invested, how much would it have gone up at say 85% invested?

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-26 00:09 | Report Abuse

A fund manager cannot have it both ways. When sitting on a pile of cash and market goes down, he can claim how smart he is by playing it safe. If it goes up instead, he cannot turn around and claim how much he has made with his shrewd investments, without mentioning the opportunity cost of the cash reserve.

Posted by dumbMoney > 2023-08-26 00:15 | Report Abuse

The 'free'call option is not exactly free after all, there is an opportunity cost attached to it. Sure, it allows the fund to buy, but at what 'strike' price? Buying at 10% higher than 6 months ago is not such a bargain then.

Posted by Patient Investor > 2023-08-26 16:23 | Report Abuse

@RealValueInvestor the manager fee is based on NAV, so why dont the manager heavily buy stocks if that will drives NAV up?

What I mean is if ICAP did use the cash to do share buy back, what would happen to the portfolio now? We probably wont see SAM, Capital A, Apex, Kellington within the holdings.

Posted by Patient Investor > 2023-08-26 16:25 | Report Abuse

@dumbMoney since there's so many issues with the fund manager as you claimed, so are you still invested? and why is COL keeps buying it as you claim their intention is never to liquidate it.