Thursday, August 04, 2011

A gem in the Genting family?

By The Star

Datuk Justin Leong Ming Loong, who yesterday emerged as a substantial shareholder of newly-listed Catcha Media Bhd, is confident about the company's ability to thrive in a new media environment.

“We often hear of declining readership figures in the print media. The future is truly in the online media space,” the 33-year old Genting Group head of strategic investments and corporate affairs told StarBiz from China.

He now has a 5.01% stake in Catcha Media. The company, which made its debut on the Ace Market two weeks ago at 15 sen above its 75 sen offer price, jumped from 58 sen at the market opening yesterday to a high of 84 sen.

It closed at 73 sen with 135,838 shares traded.

Leong could not disclose the price he paid, but said his stake was procured through a combination of shares in the open market as well as private placement.

He said Catcha Media had a comeback story to tell.

“Catcha Media's founder and director Patrick Grove, who is the poster boy of catcha.com, survived the dotcom bust of the 90s. The media business is a tough place to be, but he managed to turn around his fledgling company and came back stronger than before,” Leong said.

Leong also clarified in a statement that he had no immediate plans to merge Catcha Media into the Genting Group: “Right now, this investment in Catcha Media is purely a personal one. The Internet sector is of great interest to me look at how the Internet has changed the world, and how it continues to change industries.”

Leong, who is a grandson of Genting founder Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, was said to be instrumental in Genting's bid for the hotly-contested casino-resort complex in Singapore, now known as the Resorts World Sentosa.

The Oxford-educated businessman left Malaysia in June for a six-month sabbatical to learn Mandarin in Peking University.

He said although the lessons were hard going, he had already picked up over 800 Mandarin characters.

Leong's stake in Catcha Media comes after a series of unrelated investments from companies and individuals, including Star Publications Bhd's acquisition of a 4.99% stake.

* Malaysia Billionaire: So why is this felle that appearing in the limelight for numerous times? Why? Great people which overrated? Afraid not.. Check this