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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Rachel Scully
09 December 2013
A key deadline for a Blumont Group investor to buy 135 million shares of the company and become its chairman came and went on Friday without any official confirmation on whether the transaction had been completed.
Mr Alexander Molyneux had agreed on Oct 7 to buy Blumont’s shares from two shareholders and became the firm’s chairman-designate.
He entered into two conditional sale and purchase agreements on that date, according to a filing to the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
One agreement was for Mr Molyneux to acquire 95 million shares from Blumont executive chairman Neo Kim Hock, who would step down after the deal to become deputy chairman.
The other pact was for Mr Molyneux to buy 40 million Blumont shares from another investor, who is neither a substantial shareholder nor a director of the firm.
After the transaction, Mr Molyneux’s stake in Blumont would amount to 5.22 per cent, following the firm’s rights issue. An SGX filing on Oct 7 indicated Mr Molyneux’s deemed interest in the 135 million Blumont shares.
The deals were originally scheduled to close on or before Nov 6, but on Nov 8, the parties announced they would extend the deadline to Friday last week.
In response to queries from The Straits Times on Friday, however, Blumont said it had yet to be informed by either Mr Neo or Mr Molyneux on the status of the acquisition. The company said it would make the requisite announcements as necessary.
One possibility is that the deadline for the transactions may have been extended again, perhaps with revised terms, some market watchers told The Straits Times.
The original deal stated that Mr Molyneux would purchase the shares at about 40 cents apiece. While the agreement provided for the price to be adjusted closer to the completion date, it stipulated that the shares were to be sold at between 20 cents and 60 cents each. The final acquisition price was to be calculated based on the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of Blumont shares between the date of the agreement and closing of the transaction.
But Bloomberg data showed that the VWAP of Blumont shares between Oct 7 and on Friday was 14.8 cents - below the 20 cents minimum stated in the deal.
It is normal for parties to vary the terms and conditions in a sales and purchase agreement when the conditions precedent are dependent on market forces, said a market observer.
In a statement on Oct 7, Mr Molyneux said he would buy the shares in cooperation with Pacific Advisers. The former Citigroup managing director and natural resources veteran, who is based in Hong Kong, is chairman of two Blumont investee firms: Azarga Resources and Celsius Coal.
Trouble has dogged Blumont and some of its associated companies since their share prices crashed in early October. On Friday, Blumont shares hit a new low of 5.6 cents before recovering to close 0.8 cent down at 6.5 cents.