Curbs lifted off Asiasons, Blumont, LionGold
SGX removes ‘designated stocks’ label as trading has stabilised; Blumont execs disclose forced selling of their shares
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SGX removes ‘designated stocks’ label as trading has stabilised; Blumont execs disclose forced selling of their shares
Jasmine Ng, Business Times
19 October 2013
Asiasons Capital, Blumont Group and LionGold Corp will have their trading shackles removed on Monday, two weeks after the Singapore Exchange (SGX) declared them as designated stocks.
“We are lifting the designation because trading in these stocks has since become more stable,” Kelvin Koh, head of market surveillance at SGX, said at a briefing yesterday.
SGX said it is important for market forces to determine share prices in fair and orderly trading, adding: “The designation of the stocks and its ending are done in the interest of the investing public and the market.”
Meanwhile, announcements made late last night showed that from Oct 11 to Oct 18, Blumont’s executive chairman Neo Kim Hock, independent director Ng Su Ling and substantial shareholder Ooi Cheu Kok had their shares come under bank loan recall/forced selling. A total of 8.57 million shares were sold, for a total of $1.2 million.
Stocks of the three companies were struck by a sudden downward spiral on Oct 4, prompting the SGX to suspend trading in the three counters. The suspension was lifted the next trading day on Monday last week but SGX labelled them as designated stocks - with “no contra trading” and “no short-selling” restrictions - a move aimed at reining in excessive speculation and possible disorderly trading.
SGX said it will continue to monitor closely the trading activities in the marketplace.
Responding to the news, Blumont’s chairman-designate Alex Molyneux said: “We are extremely pleased that Blumont is no longer a designated stock because our agreement with Platinum Partners was conditional upon this status being lifted.” The company secured US$200 million of funding from Platinum Partners Value Arbitrage Fund LP, a New York-based global investment fund.
In an interview with BT yesterday, Asiasons said neither the group nor any of its directors and officers are under any investigations by the authorities. It is the last of the three companies to issue a denial.
The company’s chairman, Mohammed Azlan Hashim, who is the former Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange chairman, said the company’s association with LionGold could have caused the counter to plunge as well. After trebling to $2.83 since January, the stock of Asiasons had crashed about 95 per cent in the past fortnight.
Asiasons’ managing director Jared Lim, a former investment banker, also said that Asiasons has no cross shareholdings beyond its investments in ISR Capital and LionGold.
“There’s been, we feel, unnecessary linkage of the three companies that saw their share price suffer ... As far as (Asiasons), its directors and operations are concerned, we are not linked,” Mr Lim said, adding that there’s no “conclusive proof” that Asiasons’ share price was manipulated.
Meanwhile, two Blumont directors and a substantial shareholder disclosed forced selling of their shares in separate announcements last night.