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 issu...
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Kenneth Lim
25 January 2014
Blumont Group is launching an all-share bid for all of Australia-listed miner Genesis Resources, the products sterilisation company turned mining holding company announced yesterday.
Blumont is offering 5.3 new Blumont shares for every two Genesis shares, which would give Genesis shareholders a 16.48 per cent stake in Blumont if the offer is fully accepted.
Based on Blumont’s volume-weighted average price of about 7.19 Singapore cents on Jan 23, the bid values Genesis shares at 16.9 Australian cents apiece, or A$32.5 million (S$36.2 million) in total, representing an 87.8 per cent premium to Genesis’s volume-weighted average price of about 9 Australian cents on Jan 22.
Blumont shares closed at 7.1 cents on Jan 23. On Friday, the shares closed at 8 cents, up by 0.9 cent or 12.7 per cent. Genesis shares last traded at 9 cents.
Genesis’ core asset is the right to purchase a 62 per cent stake in a gold, silver and copper project in Plavica, Macedonia, upon the completion of a feasibility study. The study is expected to be completed before Feb 28, 2014. The company also has exploration licences covering 1.1 sq km in northern and central Australia.
The company lost A$1.8 million in the year ended June 2013, and the deal would have reduced Blumont’s earnings per share to 1.322 cents from 1.933 cents on a pro forma basis.
The offer is conditional upon Blumont gaining majority control of Genesis. Directors of Genesis, who control about 18.6 per cent of the company, according to data from Bloomberg, have agreed to recommend and accept the offer.
Other major shareholders of Genesis include Singapore-listed Annica Holdings chairman Edwin Sugiarto, who paid A$1.35 million, or 9 Australian cents per share, in November 2012 for his 9.7 per cent stake in Genesis, according to data from the Australian exchange and Bloomberg.
This will not be the first time that Mr Sugiarto finds himself in a Singapore-Australia mining deal involving one of the companies at the centre of October’s penny collapse. A year ago, Innopac Holdings launched an all-share takeover bid for Australia’s Merlin Diamonds. Mr Sugiarto was a substantial shareholder of Merlin at the time. His last reported interest in Merlin was 4.24 per cent as at September 2013, according to Bloomberg.
Shares of Blumont and Innopac, among others, dived on Oct 4, 2013, prompting queries from the Singapore Exchange directed at both companies.
Lee Meixian
24 January 2014
Blumont Group will be making an off-market takeover bid to acquire Australia-listed mineral exploration and development company Genesis Resources at an implied bid price of A$0.169 per share.
The bid price represents a whopping 87.78 per cent premium over Genesis’ closing share price on Thursday.
To pay, Blumont will be issuing 5.3 new shares at S$0.0719 apiece for every two Genesis shares. This is a 1.27 per cent premium over its closing share price on Thursday.
The takeover bid consideration will comprise up to 509.5 million Blumont shares (16.48 per cent of its enlarged share capital) and adds up to about S$36.6 million altogether.
Blumont’s share price has taken a huge beating after the company became embroiled in a penny stock saga that began last October when it was trading at around S$2.45.
Genesis’s core asset is the right to a majority stake in the highly prospective gold-silver-copper project, located in Plavica, Macedonia, within the Carpathian Volcanic Arc, a major epithermal province running through Eastern Europe.
Genesis has completed 47,000 metres of cumulative linear drilling on the Plavica project.
It also has a portfolio of gold, iron, manganese, uranium and base metal exploration licences covering more than 1,136 sq km in the prospective Proterozoic and Phanerozoic metallogenic provinces of northern and central Australia.
Since late 2012, Blumont has embarked on a new strategy to acquire mineral and energy resources assets. Last August, it announced its intention to seek shareholders’ approval to add mineral and energy resources exploration and production as a core business activity of the company.
Its chairman-designate Alex Molyneux said: “We are forging ahead with new deals that we think have good growth potential and fit in with our overall strategy... We also continue to search for additional acquisition targets and joint venture partners that create good value propositions for our shareholders moving forward.”
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