KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 23): CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s foreign shareholding rose to 22.4% in August this year, the highest since June 2020, when the country’s second largest lender by assets recorded a foreign shareholding of 22.5%.
According to the latest figures on the financial service provider’s website, the August foreign shareholding figure is also the highest so far this year, beating the high of 22.1% in the previous two months (June and July).
CIMB, which has 9.92 billion issued shares according to its latest annual report, experienced consecutive slight decreases in foreign shareholding from March to May. The banking group saw its foreign shareholding fall from 20.7% in March to 20.4% in April, before decreasing again to 20.3% in May.
In addition, the May foreign shareholding figure of 20.3% is the lowest on record so far this year, based on the group’s data which stretches as far back as January 2010, when the foreign shareholding stood at 42.1%. Notably, the level of foreign shareholding in April this year was the group’s previous lowest foreign shareholding figure on record.
Major shareholders of CIMB include the government’s strategic investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd with a 27% stake as at Aug 31, 2021.
This is followed by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) at 15.3%, the country’s biggest fund management company, Permodalan Nasional Bhd at 12.1% and Retirement Fund (Incorporated) (KWAP) at 6.4%.
At 10.30am today, CIMB’s share price was up 0.62% or three sen higher at RM4.83, valuing the banking group at RM48.37 billion. The stock has risen 55.81% over the past one year. -The Edge Markets