Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government-owned investment company, was involved in a couple of transactions through its subsidiaries, according to SGX filings last week. On Oct 1, the company acquired 715,013 shares of Keppel Land through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary Fullerton Management and DBS Group Holdings. The purchase of the shares raised its deemed stake in Keppel Land to 52.9%, based on the company’s issued share capital of 1.41 billion shares as at Oct 1.

 

More than a week ago, Keppel Land, partly owned by Keppel Corp, the world’s No 1 oil-rig maker, announced that it had issued 8.7 million new shares in connection with the proposed voluntary delisting of China-based property developer Evergro Properties. Keppel Land, which had an 85.4% stake in Evergro, says the delisting will help the company streamline its growth strategy in China.

 

On Oct 1, Temasek Capital sold off 5.5 million shares of Sunningdale Tech via its indirect wholly owned subsidiary Century Private Equity Holdings. The disposal reduced its deemed stake in the company to 5.8% from 6.5%. Sunningdale Tech is a precision plastic-components manufacturer for the automotive, telecommunications, consumer-electronics and healthcare sectors.

 

Elsewhere, Lin Chung-Ming, a substantial shareholder of NTI International, scooped up 6.2 million of the company’s shares last Monday. The purchase raised his direct stake in the company to 11.7% from 7.8%.

 

Last month, NTI International, a provider of IT applicationmanagement and support services, announced it had terminated the planned acquisition of Sun Light, a Chinese-based property-leasing manager and property developer in Xiamen, Fujian province, which also operates a trading business. The company says the $27 million agreement, which it entered into last November, was cancelled due to “difficulties encountered in connection with the proposed acquisition”.

 

Meanwhile, Kuah Geok Khim, executive director and sales and marketing director of Hoe Leong Group, sold 25 million of the company’s shares last week. The transaction reduced his deemed stake in the company to 50.6% from 60.1%. Kuah also has a direct stake of 3.3%. He is the brother of Kuah Geok Lin, who is chairman and CEO of the company. Hoe Leong distributes and trades in spare parts for heavy equipment and industrial machinery used in the agriculture, construction, forestry, marine and mining sectors.

 

In 1H ended June 30, the company saw revenue dip 17% to $28.9 million, but earnings climbed 77.3% to $798,000 from $450,000. It attributed the weak top line to a drop in orders from its design and manufacturing as well as trading and distribution segments during the economic downturn. However, the company’s earnings grew due to contribution from its barge-chartering business, which only started operations in May 2008.

 

 

{jcomments on}