Monday 21 September 2009

SGX raps China Hongxing

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has rapped China Hongxing Sports for its tardy disclosure of information relating to JF Asset Management’s substantial sales of shares in the company.

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Guanyu said...

SGX raps China Hongxing

It took too long to release infomation on JF Asset Mgt’s stake changes

By MICHELLE QUAH
18 September 2009

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has rapped China Hongxing Sports for its tardy disclosure of information relating to JF Asset Management’s substantial sales of shares in the company.

‘When JFAM notified the company on 31 July 2009 of its cessation as a substantial shareholder, the company took six days before releasing the information to the market,’ SGX said in a statement yesterday.

‘This is too long,’ it said. ‘SGX Listing Rules require immediate disclosure of such information.’

SGX said that China Hongxing’s board has undertaken to review and strengthen internal procedures and will report to the exchange on measures carried out.

Earlier this month, China Hongxing insisted that it did not announce the paring of JF’s stake in the company until later because it did not receive notifications from JF on shareholding changes.

Through various transactions up to Feb 27 this year, JF reduced its stake from 9.25 per cent to 4.08 per cent, thus ceasing to be a substantial shareholder. JPMorgan Asset Management, which now owns JF, had said that it has fax transmission receipts showing that it informed China Hongxing within two days of each sale.

But China Hongxing said that it was first alerted to JF’s change in substantial shareholding when its company secretary in Singapore was informed by JF by phone on July 31, a Friday. It said that at 5.19 pm, it received fax notifications by e-mail. It said that its management was alerted the following Monday, Aug 3. Management was attending a board meeting in Xiamen, China at the time and received the information on the Monday night.

China Hongxing said that because the fax notifications were of transactions carried out some time earlier, it checked internally whether such notifications were received previously and whether prior announcements were made.

It said that after verifying that no such notifications were received, a statement was released on Aug 6.

China Hongxing also said that it was never its intention to deliberately avoid making necessary announcements pertaining to substantial shareholder changes. It said that it regrets what happened and will ‘review and strengthen its internal procedures with regards to its receipt and disclosure of such notices from its substantial shareholders so as to ensure timely compliance with all relevant laws and regulations’.

‘It appears that the company does not have proper systems and procedures in place to receive, track and announce information in a timely manner,’ said SGX. ‘Full and timely disclosure is crucial to the operation of a fair, orderly and transparent market. SGX has required the board to devote adequate resources to ensure that such episodes will not recur.’

SGX also reminds listed companies to put in place proper systems and procedures to comply with their obligations under applicable laws, rules and regulations.