Sinjia requests trading halt after SGX advisory

13 May 2015

The Straits Times

PROPERTY and clean energy firm Sinjia Land requested a trading halt yesterday after the Singapore Exchange (SGX) issued a trade with caution advisory following a 63.2 per cent plunge in its share prices between May 7 and 11.The move followed an SGX query on Monday about “unusual price movements” in its shares.

Sinjia responded then that it “is not aware of any reason that could possibly explain the trading in its securities other than its transfer from mainboard to Catalist board and the appointment of Stamford Corporate Services as its continuing sponsor, both effective May 8”.

The stock had plunged 52 per cent or 9.9 cents to 9.1 cents on Monday with 22.6 million shares traded.

Remisier Alvin Yong said the market had been “speculating that it could be a former substantial shareholder, Mr Ang Kong Meng, selling some of his shares, after he sold down his stake from 9 per cent to around 6.8 per cent, and then down to 4.9 per cent in March”.

But Mr Ang rejected the speculation yesterday, telling The Straits Times: “The market talk is very misleading. I did not sell a lot of shares to bring the market down. I sold about 4.5 million shares on Monday.”

He also said that he ceased being a substantial shareholder on March 25.

Mr Yong noted the average trading price of Sinjia Land was above 20 cents for most of the second half of last year but said there was no guarantee it could have stayed that way in future.

“Switching from mainboard to Catalist to avoid the (minimum trading price) rule is a wise move because it allows the company to focus on its operations instead of spending time and resources to call for an EGM to seek shareholders’ approval for consolidation should the price drop below 20 cents.

“Not every company sees share consolidation as beneficial for shareholders, because share consolidation can lead to a decline in trading liquidity,” said Mr Yong.