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CATALIST-LISTED LionGold Corp, one of the firms involved in the penny stock crash of 2013, is set to receive an investment to help with its outstanding debt, it announced in a Singapore Exchange filing on Friday evening. Under a subscription agreement on Dec 28, Yaoo Capital Pte Ltd will subscribe for up to 21.8 billion new ordinary shares in LionGold at the issue price of 0.1 Singapore cent each, equal to the volume weighted average price of LionGold's shares on Dec 28. Yaoo Capital's two directors and shareholders, Yao Liang and Yao Yuan, are private investors from China with investment interests in Asia. Said LionGold: "The subscriber, its shareholders and directors are of the view that there is untapped and discoverable potential in the group’s core gold mining project in Ballarat, Australia." They intend to assess the situation after the subscription agreement is completed, with a view to strengthening the group's core business activity, while also ...

Catalist-listed LionGold Corp, one of the firms involved in the penny stock crash of 2013, is set to receive an investment to help with its outstanding debt, it announced in a Singapore Exchange filing on Friday. Under a subscription agreement on Dec 28, Yaoo Capital Pte Ltd will subscribe for up to 21.8 billion new ordinary shares in LionGold at the issue price of 0.1 Singapore cent each, equal to the volume weighted average price of its shares on Dec 28. LionGold said Yaoo Capital and its directors - private investors from China - "are of the view that there is untapped and discoverable potential in the group's core gold mining project in Ballarat, Australia" and will assess the situation with a view to strengthening its core business, while also looking at other areas of growth. The aggregate consideration will be equal to the outstanding principal amount and accumulated interest that LionGold owes under a debt restructuring agreement dated June 29, 2017,...

Investment holding company Innopac Holdings owes its outgoing chairman and chief executive officer Wong Chin Yong nearly $492,000 for unused leave accrued since 2008. The mainboard-listed company disclosed this on Wednesday in response to queries from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on its financial results for the quarter ending Sept 30. Mr Wong stepped down as chairman of the board of directors last week. He also resigned as CEO and plans to step down on March 31 next year. He is owed $491,920.85 for unused leave from 2008 to 2018. Innopac said the "significant amount due to the CEO goes back to 2008 as he was unable to utilise all his leave entitlement as he had been the only executive director of the company and group". The company's secretary and group financial controller, Ms Priscilla Tan, is owed $5,815.38 for unused leave this year. Other staff, such as its accountant and administrative assistant, are also owed compensation for unused leave fro...

INNOPAC Holdings paid its outgoing chairman and CEO Wong Chin Yong just shy of S$492,000 in the quarter ended September 2018 for unused leave dating back to 2008, disclosed the firm on Wednesday night, in response to Singapore Exchange (SGX) queries on its financial results. Mr Wong was paid S$491,920 for unused leave accumulated from 2008 to 2018. The firm said that the "significant amount due to the CEO goes back to 2008 as he was unable to utilise all his leave entitlement as he had been the only executive director of the company and group". Mr Wong resigned last week, just about a month after the firm was directed by the SGX to explain how it assessed businesses that the firm had planned to sell at a sharp discount to Mr Wong. According to Innopac's SGX filings then, Mr Wong plans to step down on March 31, 2019. The company's group financial controller, Priscilla Tan, received S$5,815 for unused leave in the current year 2018. Other staff, ranging ...

Iceberg Research's Arnaud Vagner ought to be having his moment now, after three years of tirelessly slamming the Noble Group and being called a "disgruntled" ex-employee (a label he disputes). Now that Noble's relisting has been called off on the back of a probe by the Singapore authorities into uncertainties in its financial position, the French national appears more pleased about being able to move on and "expose" other targets. Asked by The Business Times what was next for him, he replied in the phone interview: "The next step now is to do my job with other companies ... move on from this very time-consuming story." He said that the ongoing, unprecedented probe into the Noble also "opens the door" for the legal challenge being organised by Iceberg Research against Noble to take place in Singapore instead of in the UK. "It's something for the lawyers to decide...whether to come to Singapore or not. UK still re...

Commodity trader Noble Group intends to press on with its restructuring through an alternative process, and may be seeking court-appointed administration, it said in a statement yesterday. This comes a day after the authorities here refused to allow the embattled company to transfer its listing status to New Noble as part of its US$3.5 billion (S$4.8 billion) debt restructuring plan, citing potentially inflated assets. In a filing to the Singapore Exchange, Noble said it is disputing Singapore regulators' allegations of improper accounting, and intends to submit a "comprehensive response" to assessments and questions by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra). Regulators started investigating Noble two weeks ago for suspected false and misleading statements and breaches of disclosure requirements. Yesterday, Noble said it plans to complete its restructuring to "preserve value for all stakeholders", but in a way that does not in...

Commodities trader Noble Group is disputing allegations of possible accounting irregularities by regulators, who have relied on those potential inaccuracies to block a key step in the company's restructuring plans. Noble, in a filing to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Friday, defended some of its accounting practices that it said had been challenged by Singapore's Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra). The issues highlighted included its derivative treatment of variable marketing contracts, its recognition of gains and losses, its treatment of overhead costs and its classification of current and non-current assets. The company said that it will submit a comprehensive response to Acra's assessments and questions. Noble also said that investigations by Singapore authorities are not targeting any individuals from the company. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), one of the three regulators involved in the probe, told The Business Times (B...

Best World International has begun to see the benefits of changing its business model in China, and is making positive progress in other key markets, the company's chief operating officer told The Business Times. Those comments came as shares of the skincare maker and distributor reached a record high on Friday to extend a months-long run. On the stock market, the counter added seven Singapore cents or 2.8 per cent to S$2.59, as more than 3.3 million shares traded hands. The stock has risen 97 per cent year-to-date, nearly doubling in value. "I guess it's got to do with the fundamentals," Best World's Huang Ban Chin said in a phone interview. "We don't really pay too much attention to the share price but I believe it's because we have commenced our franchise business model which is a replacement for our previous export model (in China)." He said that the company's third-quarter net profit of S$29.9 million - a 145 per ce...