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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Chan Yi Wen
02 December 2014
Supplier of piping system components to the energy and marine sectors, mainboard-listed CosmoSteel Holdings on Monday announced it has entered into a subscription agreement with Tokyo-listed Japanese steel trader Hanwa to raise S$15.3 million.
The two companies have also formed a strategic alliance to reinforce business prospects.
CosmoSteel will issue 26.4 million new shares at S$0.58 each to Hanwa, representing about 10 per cent of CosmoSteel’s existing issued share capital, and a 48.7 per cent premium to the volume weighted average trading price of S$0.3901 per share on Friday.
This is conditional upon shareholders’ approval at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
If approved, the company’s CEO and executive director, Ong Chin Sum, who has also entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Hanwa on Monday, will sell approximately 56.2 million shares, representing 21.29 per cent of the existing issued share capital of CosmoSteel, to Hanwa, at the same price.
If both plans proceed accordingly, Hanwa will hold approximately 28.45 per cent of CosmoSteel’s enlarged share capital, which amounts to 290.4 million shares.
As part of the strategic alliance, Hanwa will be entitled to two seats - one non-executive director and one executive director - on CosmoSteel’s board.
Mr Ong described these developments as Hanwa’s “vote of confidence” in his company, which will give CosmoSteel the necessary resources to boost its financial position by reducing bank leverage and improving cash flow.
Meanwhile, representative director and president of Hanwa, Hironari Furukawa, said: “We believe our wide range of steel products and our global network will surely accelerate CosmoSteel’s growth while CosmoSteel’s experienced management team in the steel pipe business and established customer base in the oil and marine industry will contribute to our steel business, particularly in the Asean region.”
Of the estimated S$14.2 million net proceeds raised from the share placement, CosmoSteel plans to use 24 per cent to finance the construction of a new building and acquisition of machinery and equipment at 90 Second Lok Yang Way; 8 per cent to finance the acquisition of machinery and equipment at 36 Tuas Cresent; 35 per cent for the repayment of short-term loans and 33 per cent for general working capital purposes.
With this strategic alliance, Liu Jinshu, analyst at Voyage Research sees, scope for CosmoSteel to offer other types of steel products, other than piping system components, and to tap onto Hanwa’s larger network and resources to grow its customer base.
For Hanwa’s perspective, Mr Liu believes the Japanese company may benefit from CosmoSteel’s strong local knowledge and networks, as well as deeper penetration into the South-east Asian market.
“We would believe that Hanwa is acquiring CosmoSteel for its strong business franchise and its strategic fit, as well as to prevent CosmoSteel from potentially cooperating with any of its competitors.”
This news comes as a breath of fresh air after an Aug 27 posting on the Singapore Exchange which announced that CosmoSteel’s CEO, Ong Chin Sum, and his son, CosmoSteel’s executive director, Ong Tong Yang, were called in by corruption investigators, relating to “the giving of illegal gratification to an agent”. Both were later released on bail.
CosmoSteel could not be reached for comments when The Business Times requested for updates on the issue.