Koon Yew Yin's late disclosures

Article in The Star: "Koon in the spotlight over untimely disclosures", some snippets:


The late disclosures to Bursa Malaysia by savvy investor and philanthropist Koon Yew Yin on the disposal of his shares are now raising questions.

Based on Bursa’s listing requirements, a substantial shareholder needs to give notice on their acquisitions or disposals two weeks from the day they buy or sell the shares. In Koon’s case, he disclosed weeks later the disposal of his shares in VS Industry Bhd and Latitude Tree Bhd.

Being a substantial shareholder in both companies, his late announcements on the disposals have put him in the spotlight among his followers and the investing community.


No reason has yet been given for the lapses in making timely announcements.

The case is rather peculiar since Koon Yew Yin is also an active blogger, writing (amongst other subjects) about many of his share purchases, including those regarding VS Industry.

On i3investor there is a lively discussion ongoing (here and here, see the comments), whereby questions are asked if Koon had (apart from the legal obligation) the moral obligation to announce the selling of his shares since he also wrote when he was buying them.


In general, I am rather puzzled, why in this digital age are these kind of announcements not (semi) automated, at Bursa level, at company secretary level or both?

It should also not be much trouble to at least trigger an automatic alert within two weeks that a major shareholder has not yet filed the proper announcement since he changed his shareholding.

I have written in the past about this issue before.