KUALA LUMPUR: TA Global Bhd made its debut on the Bursa Malaysia main market yesterday, the same day its holding company TA Enterprise Bhd was listed 19 years ago on the main board, closing at 47.5 sen, down 5% from its offer price of 50 sen.

The second most active counter for the day traded at a high of 51 sen and low of 47 sen. Some 387 million shares changed hands.

TA Enterprise managing director and chief executive officer Datin Alicia Tiah said the 50 sen opening price was “within expectations”.

“Some analysts say that TA Global is worth much more. I would say that a lot of shareholders are getting TA Global shares for free from their holding of TA Enterprise shares. I would say weak holders are the ones selling now,” she told a press conference.

The company’s initial public offering (IPO) of 460 million 50 sen shares comprised an offer for sale of 90 million shares allocated to the bumiputra public, 360 million shares for approved bumiputra institutions and investors and 10 million shares to eligible directors and employees of TA Global group and TA Enterprise group.

TA Enterprise shareholders received three TA Global shares and three preferred shares for every five TA Enterprise shares held. The preferred shares are valid for five years and are convertible from year three onwards. After the listing, TA Enterprise will have a 57.3% stake in TA Global.

TA Global is the property division of the TA Group with its primary businesses of hotel operations, property management, investment and development.

Tiah said what was important was what investors thought of the company’s potential.

“Right now we don’t have many development projects. Next year, we will be launching Seri Suria, U-Thant and hopefully Dutamas,” she said adding that these projects were scheduled to be launched earliest by the second quarter.

She said the company was actively looking to partner local and foreign landowners for projects.

“Our two main targets will be Canada and Australia because TA already has a presence there,” she said. The Avaa Whistler Hotel in Canada was scheduled to open on Nov 26 and be “in full swing by the Winter Olympics in January 2010”.

“We are looking to do more things there because we have enough local knowledge to be a success. Australia is another country we are interested to explore further other than just having a hotel as a passive investment. We are actively looking to see if we can do something more than hospitality,” she said.

In Australia, TA Global owns the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Sydney and Westin Melbourne. It also owns Terasen Centre in Vancouver, Canada.

On whether the company had plans to acquire more hotels, Tiah said : “If all things go well, we will be making an announcement at the end of the year. We are still negotiating the terms.”

SHAH ALAM (May 14, 2007): Businessman Datuk Soh Chee Wen was today fined a total of RM6 million by a sessions court here after he pleaded guilty to two alternative charges of abetting Datuk Tony Tiah Thee Kian in submitting false information to the then Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE).

The conviction automatically disqualifies Soh from acting as a director of a company under Section 130 of the Companies Act 1965 for five years.

For each charge of submitting false information to the KLSE (now Bursa Malaysia), judge Azimah Omar sentenced Soh to the maximum fine of RM3 million, in default 30 months jail.

Soh’s counsel Ng Aik Guan applied for the fine to be paid in three instalments within six months.

However, Azimah rejected it and ordered Soh to pay RM2 million of the fine today with the balance RM4 million to be paid within the next two months.

The bail sum of RM2 million and Soh’s passport were also ordered to be retained by the court until the fine was fully settled.

According to a Securities Commission statement, the false reporting was over the transaction involving 7.75 million Omega Holdings Bhd (OHB) shares and 7.75 million OHB-A share.

The prosecution adduced facts which showed that between September and October 1997, Tiah and Soh had agreed to transact the said shares at RM6.45.

However, TA Securities Sdn Bhd had reported these transactions to be at RM11.60 and RM9.55 per share respectively, involving only 4.31 million OHB shares and 5.23 million OHB-A shares.

Soh was charged on May 14, 2002, with two charges for using a scheme to defraud Omega Securities Sdn Bhd under Section 87A(a) of the Securities Industry Act 1983 (SIA) through off-market transactions in respect of the sale of Uniphoenix Corporation Bhd shares.

In September 2005, he was also charged with three alternative charges of furnishing false reports involving OHB shares to the then KLSE.

These three alternative charges were for abetting Tiah to submit false information to the KLSE under Section 122B(a) of the SIA read together with Section 122C© of the SIA.

Soh also admitted to the second principal charge of securities fraud under Section 87A SIA in relation to the execution of contango transactions in the margin accounts of Omega Securities.

This was taken into consideration by the sessions court in sentencing.

On May 10, 2002, Tiah had pleaded guilty and was convicted of furnishing a false report to the KLSE involving direct business transactions involving 28 million OHB shares and 7 million OHB-A shares.

Tiah was convicted and fined RM3 million.