The Pangolin Asia Fund’s letter for May is now available for download from their website. The fund is currently about 78% invested and the investment team remains cautious in their outlook, although they do see economic activity in ASEAN picking up. 

In the letter, James Hay also discusses one of their portfolio holdings, Wing Tai Malaysia. The company is a subsidiary of Wing Tai Holdings, which is listed in Singapore. The Malaysian business owns land in Penang, prime residential real estate in KL and has a retail division which includes the franchise to Uniqlo. The company currently has a net asset value of RM 2.73 per share but Pangolin estimates fair value at closer to RM 4.00 per share.

Wing Tai Holdings, which owns 66% of Wing Tai Malaysia, recently made an offer for the remaining shares at RM 1.80 per share, which is of course well below Pangolin’s estimate of fair value. Unfortunately, the Malaysian Stock Exchange has a free float requirement of 25%, so there is a real risk of the company being taken private for cheap (which, by the way, is a not uncommon occurrence in this region). Anyway, it’s worth a read to hear Pangolin’s side of the story.

You can also learn more from this article in The Star.