PETALING JAYA: Umno has lost direct control of Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd after 31.6% stake of the company's shares changed hands on Friday (Feb 8).

It is understood that former Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP Datuk Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir was the buyer of the block of shares from Umno.

Following the sale, Umno’s stake in Utusan would drop from 49.77% to 18.17%, ending the decades-long control of the Malay newspaper group by a political party.

Abd Aziz is currently the executive chairman of Utusan.

He was re-appointed to the post early this month, following the expiry of his previous tenure in the group, which spanned six months from June 7, 2018, until Dec 13, 2018.

According to stock market data, a block of 35 million shares in Utusan crossed at a huge premium on Friday.

That block represented a 31.6% stake in the company based on its paid-up capital of 110.73 million shares.

Data showed the block of shares was sold at 19 sen per unit, which was 7.5 sen, or 65.2%, higher than Utusan’s last closing market price of 11.5 sen.

Utusan, which has been chalking up losses, was classified as a Practice Note 17 (PN17) company in August last year.