KUALA LUMPUR (June 2): Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd and Can-One Bhd saw its share price rise significantly, being among the bourse’s top gainers today, after the High Court dismissed Datuk Anthony See’s appeal against the companies relating to the takeover of Kian Joo’s assets by Aspire Insight Sdn Bhd.

Kian Joo (fundamental: 2; valuation: 1.5) rose as much as 6.62%, while Can-One gained as much as 7.09%, making them the fifth and sixth largest gainers in today’s morning market trade.

Public Investment Bank analyst Ching Weng Jin said that with See’s appeal out of the way, the takeover of Kian Joo’s assets by Aspire Insight now have a chance of progressing.

“As we recall, Datuk Anthony See sued the company, but lost in November and appealed the decision. So yesterday the decision was made by the court to throw out the case as well.

“The court awarded the case to Can-One, so I suppose the deal may now go through. I think that is why the share price has gone up. It is one stumbling block that has been removed,” he said.

Can-One controls 32.9% of Kian Joo and is its biggest shareholder. Aspire Insight, meanwhile, is the vehicle of EPF and Kian Joo’s chief operating officer (COO) Chee Khay Leong, who was also formerly Can-One’s COO.

As at 10.21am, Kian Joo’s counter rose 19 sen to RM3.06, with some 690,000 shares traded, while Can-One gained 16 sen to RM2.70 with 369,000 shares exchanged.

With See’s appeal being dismissed, Kian Joo may proceed to call for a long delayed extraordinary general meeting to deliberate on the sale of assets to Aspire Insight, said market observers.

However, Ching added that there is still the Federal Court that See can go to if he decides to make another appeal.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)