TWO former senior employees of UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (UOBKH) were charged on Wednesday for allegedly lying to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in relation to reports on a then Catalist aspirant. Lan Kang Ming, 38, and Wee Toon Lee, 34, each face three charges of providing MAS with false information in October 2018 in relation to due diligence reports on an unidentified company applying to list on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. MAS said in a media statement on Wednesday that it was performing an onsite inspection of UOBKH between June and August 2018, to assess the latter's controls, policies and procedures in relation to its role as an issue manager for Initial Public Offering (IPOs). During the examination, Lan and Wee were said to have provided different versions of a due diligence report relating to background checks on a company applying to be listed on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. UOBKH had acted as the issue manager
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Reuters
13 July 2012
China is emerging as a strong contender to the traditional offshore oil rig manufacturing powerhouses of Singapore and South Korea as shipyards such as COSCO Corp fight for a bigger market share in a deepwater exploration boom.
China started making jack-up rigs for shallow-water drilling and semi-submersibles for deepwater operations about seven years ago. In that short span of time, industry data shows it managed to secure a fifth of the US$72 billion orders placed, tempting customers with aggressive pricing.
China also topped the annual orders lists at least twice during that period. In 2009, it outpaced Singapore, traditionally the dominant producer of jack-ups, and in 2006 and 2011, ousted South Korea on semi-submersibles.
“Over time there is no reason why Chinese yards - the good yards - could not be competitive internationally,” Scott Kerr, chief executive officer of Norwegian oil service company Sevan Drilling, told Reuters.
Sevan has taken delivery of two ultra-deepwater rigs worth more than US$1 billion from COSCO and has ordered another two such rigs from the shipbuilder, which operates seven yards in China, for delivery in 2013 and 2014.
The Norwegian oil service company bypassed shipyards in South Korea and Singapore partly because their yards were almost full and the Chinese offered a competitive price, Kerr said.
The better pricing had its downside. COSCO dragged its feet on the delivery of the first rig, the world’s first cylindrical drilling unit, as the yard initially lacked some of the know-how to build and assemble sophisticated offshore equipment, he said.
With quality and delivery reliability a persistent concern, China remains a distant No. 3 among rig builders. In the first half of 2012, China secured just three orders out of the 29 placed during the period, versus 11 for South Korea and six for Singapore, data from Credit Suisse shows.
China’s poorer showing so far this year is partly because most of the orders were for deepwater rigs, where Singapore and Korean yards still have a competitive edge. In the second half of last year, 14 out of 26 rigs ordered were jack-ups. China has had more success winning orders for that rig type.
But with newly acquired expertise, foreign technology and cheaper prices, Beijing could become a major offshore oil equipment making hub in 10 years, just as Singapore and South Korea supplanted shipyards in the United States and Europe in the 1990s, industry watchers say.
Strong financial backing from Chinese state banks also helps make payment terms attractive. Clients ordering from China could put down a fraction of the price as down payment, sometimes as little as one per cent.
Chinese yards garnered nine out of the 26 orders placed for all rig types in the second half of last year, industry data shows. That put China ahead of South Korean shipyards, which received eight contracts, and Singapore, which got only five.
Competitors have taken notice.
“I am in Singapore. I talk to vessel builders all the time. Singaporeans are very worried about the Chinese shipyards,” said Jason Waldie, director of energy consultancy Douglas-Westwood. “The Koreans are also worried.”