Did You Know: In 2018, FashionValet Bought 30 Maple For RM95 Million From... Vivy Yusof
30 Maple Sdn Berhad operates Vivy's headscarf brand, dUCk.
In 2018, the same year Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) made a large investment of RM47 million in FashionValet, the e-commerce platform purchased its founders' 30 Maple Sdn Berhad, the parent company of dUCk, for RM95 million
While Khazanah and PNB, the two government-linked sovereign wealth funds, had cited the investment in FashionValet as support for local entrepreneurship, local news portal Scoop reported that a significant portion of the funds was allocated to the substantial RM95 million acquisition of the company that's owned entirely by FashionValet's founders, Datin Vivy Yusof and Datuk Fadzarudin Shah Anuar.
According to filings with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), FashionValet acquired its own founders' 30 Maple in December 2018, shortly after the investment by Khazanah and PNB.
The purchase raised eyebrows as it suggested an internal acquisition of assets from FashionValet's own co-founders, effectively transferring RM95 million within their business ecosystem.
FashionValet's 2018 annual report valued the dUCk brand at RM68.8 million and 30 Maple's goodwill at RM21 million, contributing to the RM95 million acquisition price.
At the time, 30 Maple was a profitable company, with profits of RM8.5 million and RM7.745 million in 2017 and 2018, respectively
It even paid out RM4.2 million in dividends in 2017 and RM10 million in 2018.
However, some argue that the move to purchase the company for RM95 million effectively amounted to public funds being used to finance an internal transfer, leaving public investors on the losing end of the deal.