Fashion Retailer's Stock Jumped 16% After MACC Finally Unfroze Their Bank Accounts — No Arrests, No Charges

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Shares in Padini Holdings Bhd surged as much as 16.19% in intra-morning trade on Friday (Jul 17) after the fashion retail group said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had released all its bank accounts previously frozen as part of a money-laundering probe.

In an announcement today (17 July), the group said no director, officer, employee, or representative of the group had been arrested or charged with any offence arising from the matter.

It added that neither the company nor any member of the group is subject to forfeiture proceedings in connection with the investigation or involved in any wrongdoing or improper conduct.

The stock climbed 23 sen to RM1.65 on the news, before easing to RM1.59 as at 10.49 am.

More than 12 million shares changed hands at the time of writing — the counter’s highest traded volume since 27 April, when trading resumed after the company first announced the account freeze on 25 April.

CIMB Securities reiterated its “buy” call on Padini with an unchanged target price of RM1.80, implying a 26.8% upside from Thursday’s closing price of RM1.42.

“We view this development positively and believe it represents the best possible outcome for Padini at this stage,” the brokerage said in a note.

CIMB added that Padini could be re-rated as the market prices out the risk premium tied to the MACC probe.

In late April, MACC froze 21 bank accounts belonging to Padini and five of its subsidiaries under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), triggering a nearly 10% sell-off in the stock the following trading day.

Some investors and market observers had written off Padini at the time, given the scale of the freeze.

Throughout the probe, Padini maintained that the investigation was centred on third-party vendors and external counterparties, not the company’s own management or staff.

It also clarified that the frozen accounts were not used for daily operations, allowing its retail business to continue without disruption.

Retail selling wasn’t the only pressure on the stock; in the final week of April, both the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) trimmed their Padini holdings — EPF offloading 5.28 million shares to reduce its stake to 10.43%, and KWAP selling 1.5 million shares to bring its holding down to 10.45%.

Neither fund publicly linked the disposals to the MACC probe, and such moves are often part of routine portfolio rebalancing.

Still, the timing—coming immediately after the account freeze was announced—fuelled market speculation that institutional confidence was wavering alongside retail sentiment.

READ MORE: MACC Freezes Padini Bank Accounts Under Anti-Money Laundering Law — And The Company Isn’t Saying Much More

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