KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 22): GHL Systems Bhd ascended as much as 2.88% after The Edge Financial Daily (Edge FD) reported that the electronic-payment solutions provider was eyeing expansion into other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries.

GHL rose to its highest at 71.5 sen so far today before paring gains. At 2:47pm, GHL traded at 70.5 sen with 397,600 shares changing hands.

This came on the back of better investor sentiment across the broader market. The FBM KLCI climbed 26.3 points or 1.53 % to 1,742.29 at the time of writing.

Edge FD, quoting GHL chief executive officer and executive director Raj Lorenz in an email interview, reported today GHL was banking on its transaction payment acquisition segment to aggressively expand its presence into other Asean countries.

According to the report, GHL registered 127% on-year segment revenue growth following the acquisition of e-Pay Asia Ltd in February this year.

It is worth noting that GHL's substantial shareholder Cycas, a unit of private equity fund Creador Sdn Bhd, had acquired more shares in GHL.

According to GHL's announcement to Bursa Malaysia last Thursday (Dec 18), Cycas had acquired 1.38 million and 15,000 shares on December 12 and last Monday (Dec 15) respectively.

Following the acquisitions, Cycas' stake in GHL rose to 28.71% or 183.81 million shares.