KUALA LUMPUR (March 10): Bursa Malaysia Securities has publicly reprimanded Oasis Harvest Corp Bhd (KL:OASIS) and its adviser, Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd, over the termination of the company's rights issue in 2023.

Oasis had announced the rights issue on May 26 that year, involving up to 202.8 million new shares and 152.1 million free warrants on a four-for-three basis. The food and beverage company intended to allocate RM5.35 million (47.3% of the minimum RM11.3 million proceeds) for deferred acquisition payments.

On Oct 13, 2023, Oasis announced that its board had decided to scrap the exercise.

In a statement on Monday, Bursa said Oasis and Mercury Securities violated key listing rules by altering or cancelling the book closing date of Oct 5 for the rights issue, before ultimately terminating the exercise.

Further, Oasis and Mercury Securities failed to promptly inform the bourse regulator that the announcements and shareholder circular on the rights issue may not have met disclosure requirements, particularly regarding the financial impact of an impairment related to Oasis’ acquisition of High Reserve F&B Sdn Bhd, the statement said.

It added that Mercury Securities did not properly assess whether the planned use of funds from Oasis’ rights issue — either for the acquisition or to settle deferred payments — was in the best interest of investors, as required by the Securities Commission of Malaysia.

As a result, Bursa found that Oasis and Mercury Securities did not assess the impact of the impairment before announcing the book closing date and failed to inform the regulator of this significant development, violating listing rules.

The bourse regulator noted that it takes the breach seriously, as altering or revoking a declared entitlement and book closing date undermines market integrity and investor rights.

Oasis shares, which have risen over 11% year-to-date, closed unchanged at 19 sen on Monday, valuing the company at RM28 million.