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Failing to hold early gains after trading resumes for its counter, offshore and marine (O&M) group Ezion Holdings slipped to negative territory and closed marginally down at 19.4 Singapore cents, down 0.3 cent from its last traded price of 19.7 cents. The stock ranked the highest traded by volume on Tuesday, with over 251 million shares changing hands. It surged to an intra-day high of 25.5 Singapore cents, but mostly hovered at around 20 Singapore cents in afternoon trading. Market practitioners pointed to selling pressure coming from the substantial equity dilution that Ezion potentially faces after emerging from a months-long debt-refinancing exercise. Its debt revamp tabled equity swaps and issuance of warrants, including for holders of S$575 million of notes and perpetuals. Such selling pressure could have outweighed "buy" calls from punters betting on upside from the closure of its refinancing exercise. Some of Ezion's noteholders have reported...

Unbeknown to the company, the former executive chairman of troubled railway parts maker Midas Holdings had been under investigation by China's Economic Crime Investigation Unit before his resignation, Midas said on Tuesday. In an exchange filing, the Midas board said it had learnt that two banks in China's Jilin province had advised Midas subsidiary Jilin Midas Light Alloy (JMLA) that the police had paid visits to their branches to investigate Chen Wei Ping. The police were from the Economic Crime Investigation Unit and Mr Chen is suspected for fraud relating to certain loans, the board said. JMLA's two banks - China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China in Jilin - also made requests to JMLA to provide them with explanations within five days from March 30. In a letter dated March 30, the banks had sought information on JMLA's repayment plans for past due loans, Mr Chen's involvement in certain loans, and the financial and operational...

The board of directors of railway parts maker Midas Holdings has filed a police report against Midas subsidiary Jilin Midas Light Alloy (JMLA) in China after checks on its cash balances threw up alarming discrepancies. The board said on Monday that based on statements obtained over the counter at the Changchun branch of China Merchants Bank, JMLA had just 11,485.40 yuan (S$2,400) in its cash balance at the end of December. This is a shortfall of more than 334 million yuan from the sum that it had originally reported. Earlier, Midas's auditors had received a "bank confirmation" that JMLA had unaudited cash balances of 334.4 million yuan at its primary accounts at the end of December. The discrepancies in JMLA's accounts uncovered by the board date as far back as Dec 31, 2016, when the shortfall between the statements obtained and the earlier "bank confirmation" amounted to more than 352 million yuan. "In view of the discrepancies, t...

ISR Capital on Sunday said that a mining business in which it is trying to acquire a 60 per cent stake may require a further US$10 million to US$15 million of cash to carry out a new phase of work. Among other things, this next phase includes pilot production, feasibility and engineering studies, as well as environmental impact assessments. ISR also revealed, in response to queries by the Singapore Exchange (SGX), that the mining business, Tantalum Holding Mauritius (THM), has yet to receive a renewal of its mining licence in Madagascar even though its application was sent in December 2016. In a filing to the Singapore bourse, ISR Capital, an investment holding company that provides private equity investment and investment advisory, stated that its S$6 million loan to THM has not been fully disbursed. As at end March this year, approximately S$660,000 of its loan to THM has not been utilised, ISR said. Additionally, the maturity date of its loan to Tantalus Rare Earth...

When a company is listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), it is obliged to comply with the listing rules. Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) has various regulatory tools to enforce them. A wide range of disciplinary sanctions are also available to deal with relevant persons who have breached the rules. "Relevant persons" comprise the issuer, its directors, executive officers and issue managers, and where a company is listed on Catalist, its sponsors and registered professionals. Participants granted access to SGX markets are similarly expected to comply with the trading rules. Unusual trading activities by any participant won't be left unaddressed when detected. Upon detecting material concerns in an issuer, SGX RegCo may use its regulatory tools to: ·          Alert the market so that investors and shareholders can make informed decisions; ·          Contain the situation by highl...

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Friday called on investment holding firm Innopac Holdings to appoint a professional firm to review the group's investment processes and to recommend improvements in controls. This comes as earlier this year in January, the company was deemed a cash company by SGX, meaning that it should be suspended under listing rules. The company disagreed, saying that it has other investments in properties, joint ventures and available-for-sale investments. In its notice of compliance, SGX also called on Innopac to undertake an interim audit on its financial results for the full-year ended Dec 31, 2017, and have it completed by May 31, 2018. "The exchange requires clarity on the following: (i) the company's state of affairs i.e. whether the company is able to operate as a going concern; (ii) whether the company has any active business operations failing which, the company would be designated as a cash company under the listing rules." ...

The board of Ipco International said on Wednesday that most of the S$1.58 million raised from a share placement last year has been diverted to working capital instead of a real estate project as originally planned. The intended use of the placement proceeds was 50 per cent for the purchase of equipment and development of land in Seattle through Capri Investments, the group's real estate development subsidiary, and 50 per cent for working capital. In fact, close to S$1.34 million was used for working capital purposes, including payroll. Only S$187,000 has gone towards Capri Investments and a remaining S$61,000 was unspent as at March 30. In early January, former executives of the company diverted the proceeds to working capital, Ipco's board said. It did not name these former executives. Because the actual use of proceeds is not in accordance with the intended use as earlier stated, the board said it has reported the alleged non-compliance to the Singapore Exch...

Catalist-listed Annica Holdings on Wednesday said it has entered into an agreement with Premier Equity Fund Sub Fund F and fund manager Value Capital Asset Management to extend the redemption date for its convertible bonds until March 31, 2019. In a filing to the Singapore Exchange, Annica said the parties have agreed in writing to extend the redemption "in order to improve the short-term cash flow of the company". Accordingly, unless previously redeemed, converted or purchased and cancelled, the firm will redeem the bonds at 100 per cent of the principal amount on end-March next year. The conversion period for the bonds will not be extended and shall remain as Dec 24, 2018 as the maturity date stands at Dec 30, 2018, Annica said. The counter last traded at 0.1 Singapore cent on April 2, unchanged from the previous day's close. Annica is an investment holding company with subsidiaries operating mainly in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and V...

We may have heard of investing forums, but what about a social network of investing ideas? A combination of social media features and information about investing, InvestingNote aims to let users keep their own e-journals for their investments. The startup, which brings retail investors, stock brokers, remisiers, financial bloggers and traders together to educate people on how to invest in stock markets, has also partnered CIMB Securities, PhillipCapital and RHB Securities. InvestingNote, whose services are all free, serves two kinds of users: professionals and retail investors. Professionals are individuals who have knowledge about investments and share it with retail investors, who seek the opinions of the professionals on stocks they should buy or sell. A unique feature of InvestingNote is the combination of social media tools that resemble Facebook's status update feature, Instagram's "follow" function and eBay's seller ratings. Retail...

Mainboard-listed YuuZoo Corporation's premises have been raided, and former management staff interviewed by the police, the company disclosed late on Thursday night. The seizure of documents and computer equipment, which The Business Times understands took place on Monday, came on the heels of a notice from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD). Chairman and former chief executive Thomas Zilliacus, a Finn, has surrendered his passport upon instructions from the police. Singapore Exchange Regulation, or SGX Regco, had said - also on Monday - that it had referred findings from an independent reviewer's draft report to the authorities over possible Securities and Futures Act (SFA) breaches by YuuZoo. Ernst & Young Advisory was engaged last October to carry out an independent review of the online media company. It was to cover a range of issues, including former employees' allegations of wrongdoing, as well as queries by the bourse operator over certain fina...

Mainboard-listed online media company YuuZoo Corp announced late Thursday night that the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) had raided its offices and seized valuation reports, audit plans and materials prepared by various professionals, hard disks, laptops, chargers and/or adapters of "certain" employees. In a Singapore Exchange filing by chief operating officer Mohandas, YuuZoo added that its chairman, Thomas Zilliacus, and the company's 2015 head of franchise management Sebastian Zilliacus have both been interviewed by the CAD. The company is under investigation by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) on possible breaches of the Securities and Futures Act. YuuZoo said that CAD has requested access to all records and correspondences relating to franchises, franchising arrangements and the companies in which shareholdings interest were held. In addition, CAD has asked for all relevant information technology equipment and corporate emails belonging t...

Catalist-listed Alliance Mineral Assets Limited and Australia-listed Tawana Resources NL have agreed to "a merger of equals" that will create a mid-tier lithium producer with pro-forma market capitalisation of A$446 million (S$450.4 million). Both companies have entered into a definitive scheme implementation agreement for the planned merger that is being pursued via a scheme of arrangement under the Australian Corporations Act 2001. Once the scheme is implemented, Alliance will acquire all of Tawana's issued share capital at 1.10 Alliance share for each Tawana share. The implied consideration for each Tawana share is 37.4 Singapore cents, based on the closing share price of 34 Singapore cents for Alliance shares on the last trading day. The merger is subject to shareholders' and regulatory approvals. On completion of the merger, Tawana will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Alliance, with existing Alliance shareholders owning about 51 per cent of, and...

Mainboard-listed online media company YuuZoo Corp is under investigation by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) for possible breaches of the Securities and Futures Act. In an exchange filing on Tuesday night, YuuZoo said that the CAD has asked it to provide access to documents or information related to the company, its subsidiaries and associates from financial years 2013 to 2016, including all records and correspondences related to franchises, franchising arrangements and firms it has a stake in. Thomas Zilliacus, the company's chairman, also received a notice from CAD related to these investigations. The company said that it "will cooperate fully" with the CAD on the investigations. This latest announcement comes after the Singapore Exchange (SGX) referred initial findings from an independent review of YuuZoo to the relevant authorities for possible breaches. The company has also been slapped with yet another notice of compliance - its second i...

The initial findings from an independent review of mainboard-listed YuuZoo Corp have been referred to the relevant authorities for possible breaches of listing rules. The company has also been slapped with yet another notice of compliance - its second in as many months - from the bourse operator. In an exchange filing on Monday, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) said a draft report from YuuZoo's independent reviewer, Ernst & Young Advisory (EY), showed that YuuZoo has not given EY necessary access to information and data. The review was also restricted by scope exclusions imposed by YuuZoo which were "inconsistent with the spirit of an independent review", SGX added. The bourse said it issued a notice of compliance to YuuZoo on Monday, requiring EY to submit an executive summary of their initial findings to SGX as soon as these are finalised. The company will also be required to publicly release these findings. The bourse had suspended trading of YuuZoo...

Troubled railway parts maker Midas Holdings has been hit with a notice of compliance by regulators demanding the immediate resignation of two of its top executives. The Singapore Exchange (SGX) said in the notice that Midas Holdings executive chairman Chen Wei Ping cannot be appointed as a director or executive officer in any listed company for the next three years. The bourse has also barred Ma Ming Zhang, the legal representative of Midas Holdings unit Luoyang Midas, from being appointed an executive officer in any listed company for the next three years. These latest blows come after the company's audit committee lodged a police report with Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department last week, over a possible breach of securities laws and other offences linked to irregularities in the group's operations in China. These included unauthorised loans taken out by the companies' subsidiaries, as well as the provision of unauthorised corporate guarantees. ...

Interest on loans extended to two entities that are maturing end of this June and December account for all of ISR Capital's full-year revenue for 2017, the listed company said in a response to queries from the Singapore Exchange. ISR Capital, an investment holding company that provides private equity investment and investment advisory, said that interest on loans to Tantalum Holding (Mauritius) Ltd and Tantalus Rare Earths AG make up the whole of the S$576,075 revenue posted for FY17. Of this amount, S$563,677 of interest pegged to the loan to Tantalum Holding (THM) will mature on June 30 and another S$12,398 tied to the loan to Tantalus Rare Earths (TRE) on Dec 31. ISR Capital has recognised revenue from these interest amounts on Sep 30, 2017 and Dec 31, 2017. A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Singapore-listed investment holding company has extended a short-term secured bridging loan of up to S$6 million to THM and a secured term loan of an aggregate amount equal ...