Investor with the Midas touch

KUALA LUMPUR: Christian Kwok Leun Yau Heilesen seems to be the man with the Midas touch, as shares linked to him this year have been trading robustly.

Heilesen, a Danish national, currently holds about 8.3 per cent stake in Cybertowers Bhd, and a 26.39 per cent indirect stake in GPRO Technologies Bhd.

He first emerged in the Malaysian stock market scene late last year, when he and another foreign investor bought a substantial stake in DVM Technology Bhd and asked for an extraordinary general meeting to seek the removal of several directors.

About one to two weeks prior to the announcement of Heilesen becoming a substantial shareholder, DVM stocks more than doubled to 25 sen. However, Heilesen disposed of his entire stake in DVM about a week later.

Heilesen then emerged as a substantial shareholder of GPRO, by acquiring 38.23 million shares from the open market at 8.5 sen a share September last year.

A month later, he bought another 24 million shares at 15.5 sen each from the open market.

Today, via a number disposals via married deals, he now has an indirect stake of 26.39 per cent in DVM via Deluxe Garden Ltd.

In his most recent move in March, he became a substantial shareholder after acquiring 3.09 million Cybertowers shares from the open market (believed to be at about 76 sen), increasing his shareholding to 7.4 per cent and subsequently to 8.3 per cent.

A look at Heilesen's key investments in Malaysia showed that he may have at least doubled his investments here, as GPRO share prices have more than doubled, while Cybertowers share prices have almost tripled, since he became a substantial shareholder in these companies.

At yesterday's closing, Cybertowers shares on Bursa Malaysia closed 5.9 per cent higher at RM1.96 each while GPRO shares closed unchanged at 19 sen each.

While analysts were unsure why the stocks rallied, they did not discount the possibilities of asset injection and corporate exercises on these companies.

"The companies also recorded strong growths in their recent quarterly results. This could also be a sign of better earnings prospects to come," said an analyst from a brokerage.

Cybertowers, in its nine months ended May 31, 2012, registered a RM2.2 million net profit, compared with a net loss of RM11,000 the same period a year ago.

Revenue for the three quarters more than tripled to RM9.83 million.

Meanwhile, for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, GPRO posted a net profit of RM1.2 million versus a net loss of RM581,000 the same quarter a year ago. Its revenue during the quarter also rose by over fivefold to RM1.9 million.

Although analysts were not sure about Heilesen's plans for the companies, they said that he may have played a role in the companies' turnaround.

Heilesen, 28, founded Funmobile about eight years ago.

Funmobile, an Internet and mobile entertainment provider, also offers infotainment products for both mobile devices and computers in over 30 countries.

He helped Funmobile raise US$9.5 million (RM28.5 million) in 2007 and he was the winner of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2008.

As a chief executive officer, he led the company to become a global provider of mobile games, ringtones, downloads and other mobile value-added services over the last seven years.