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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R Sivanithysivan
11 October 2014
Shares in offshore oil and gas stock Ezion Holdings plunged nine cents or 5.4 per cent to S$1.575, bringing its loss over the past three weeks to almost 18 per cent and taking it closer to its 52-year low of S$1.52.
Market observers said the fall was largely because of worries over the impact a rising US dollar would have on Ezion’s US-dollar denominated debt. However, dealers also said the sell-off was aggravated by broad-based weakness brought on by recent plunges on Wall Street - on Thursday, the major US indices fell 2 per cent, leading to a 35.38-point or 1.1 per cent loss for the Straits Times Index on Friday at a five-month low of 3,223.87.
Nomura Global Markets Research, however, said in a Friday “buy” on Ezion that the concerns the market has relating to the company’s debt are misplaced.
“There is a natural hedge, as Ezion’s assets are US dollar-denominated, while its debts are largely denominated in US dollar, and some in Singapore dollar; and we expect Ezion’s net gearing to have peaked at 1.2x in FY13, and to decline towards 0.6x by end-FY16F,” said Nomura.
“This is due to our expectation of improving free cash flow and retained profits, as we believe that Ezion is on track to reach its tipping point of self-funding fleet expansion.”
As a result, Nomura said it has a S$2.67 target price for Ezion, based on a sum-of-the-parts of (a) a discounted cash flow model which takes into account Nomura’s estimates for the life spans of Ezion’s service rigs and lifeboats; (b) nine times earnings on jointly owned service rigs and vessels; and (c) relevant values for listed associates. It added that its currency strategists expect one US dollar to cost S$1.27 in the fourth quarter and S$1.29 in the second quarter of next year.