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ISR CAPITAL’S long-drawn-out proposed acquisition of a rare-earth mining asset - in the works since June two years ago - is finally making progress, with shareholder approval on Tuesday. At an extraordinary general meeting, 100 per cent of over 760 million shareholder votes were cast in favour of the acquisition of a 60 per cent stake in Tantalum Holding (Mauritius) (THM), which fully owns Tantalum Rare Earth Malagasy SARLU (TREM). The latter has an exploration licence for a rare-earth mining concession in Madagascar. ISR is acquiring the stake from REO Magnetic, a Singapore-registered private company, by issuing 747 million new shares, assigning a value of 0.4 Singapore cents to each of those shares for a deal valuation of S$3 million. But clarity is still wanting in various aspects, from the benefits of the deal to the direction of the company. On when the company would start turning a profit, executive chairman Chen Tong predicted three years. This is based first on TR

Brokerage heads do not foresee a significant jump in forced selling or contra losses even if the market takes a turn for the worst, as high rollers are dwindling in number and simply more cautious than they used to be. In fact, margin calls are the furthest concern for stockbroking firms here today, as retail participation in the Singapore market stays muted, whether share prices are falling, rising, or going nowhere at all. Kenny Lo, Maybank Kim Eng's head of retail brokerage Singapore and regional head of products and services, told The Business Times: "Retail interest in the Singapore market has been declining and has hit multi-year lows this year. As a result, there has been a gradual decline in contra trading." Besides, the house has risk management and credit policies in place to manage market volatility, he said. Esmond Choo, senior executive director at UOB Kay Hian, agreed: "Contra trading generally thrives in bull market conditions. Under

Some market watchers were surprised when South Korea's dry bulk play Polaris Shipping indicated in September it is looking to pursue a public listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). One trade journal deemed Singapore as "an unconventional choice", considering Polaris Shipping may enjoy greater liquidity if it floats on its home exchange. Yet, while shipping stocks aren't actively traded in Singapore, they aren't hot elsewhere either. Stock valuations in the broader maritime sector have generally languished amid a protracted sector-wide downturn, afflicting both the conventional shipping and offshore and marine (O&M) segments. In Singapore, the market capitalisations of shipping and offshore counters are mostly well below S$1 billion. SGX data shows that the combined market cap of a dozen listed shipping counters worked out to just US$3.9 billion and that of 35 offshore services counters stood at only US$2.4 billion as at Oct 5. The soft shipping

INNOPAC Holdings on Tuesday announced an S$8.4 million stock placement that will result in a change of control, as well as a related disposal of five subsidiaries and a S$2.5 million secured loan facility. The investment holding company said it will place 8.4 billion new shares at 0.1 Singapore cent apiece to 11 individual investors. The new shares will represent about 65 per cent of Innopac's enlarged share capital. The largest investors in the placement are Choo Beng Kai, managing director of Malaysian investment holding company Masmeyer Holdings, and Lim Soon Huat, executive chairman of Malaysia-listed Asia File Corp. Mr Choo will hold a 19.4 per cent stake in Innopac after the placement, and Mr Lim will control a 15.6 per cent interes. They will together be considered the new controlling shareholders of the company. Of the S$7.95 milion in net proceeds, Innopac will use about S$3.95 million to develop existing investments, new business investments and acquisit