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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Chan Yi Wen
22 November 2014
Mainboard-listed Sino Construction announced on Friday that operations at its Mongolian mine Baruun Noyon Uul (BNU) will recommence, following what it described as the “successful completion” of its first trial batches of coal.
BNU is part of Sino’s recent off-market takeover bid of Australian company Guildford Coal for A$60 million.
In the last two months, BNU has also been the only mine in the company’s portfolio that has produced coal; its other assets, including Guildford’s Australian mines, are still in the exploration phase.
The company said results from the testing of the second trial batch of coal are expected to be received by end November.
Sino Construction has been aggressively acquiring coal assets in a bid to transform itself from a construction company into a resource player. Within months this year, it acquired three coal assets, and has indicated interest in acquiring more.
This month, company chairman Andy Chee told The Business Times that coal from its Mongolian mine is sold to northern China via the Ceki Crossing, and that China and India were two of the company’s target supply markets.
Of late, China has imposed higher import taxes and quality restrictions on coal to limit air pollution; market players have attributed the recent plunge of coal prices to this move.
Such policy changes by China may also have shaped Sino Construction’s coal acquisition guidelines. Mr Chee disclosed that Sino would focus on coking coal (for steel-making) and on high-grade thermal coal (for power generation; the latter type of coal has more than 5,500 calorific value, low ash and low sulphur content.
On Friday, after a marginal dip of 1.61 per cent from the previous closing day, Sino Construction’s counter closed at S$0.305.