Key investor sold over 2.6m shares last Friday; RichLand shares also see massive drop
By Lee Su Shyan 30 September 2008
ON A day when share prices tumbled like nine pins, the plunges in Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation (Keppel T&T) and RichLand Group were so spectacular that they still caught the eye.
While the Straits Times Index was down 2.08 per cent, Keppel T&T lost 27.7 per cent and RichLand’s stock nosedived 62.7 per cent.
The cause of RichLand’s plunge remained something of a mystery, but Keppel T&T’s fall was partly due to forced selling of shares by one of its key investors.
Keppel T&T’s shares fell to as low as $1.58, down 77 cents, before it managed to claw back some losses to end at $1.70, shedding 65 cents. About 5.02 million shares were traded.
The sell-down came on the back of last Friday’s huge fall when Keppel T&T lost 43.9 per cent with 5.1 million shares traded.
That adds up to a loss of about 59 per cent, or $4.19, in two days, while its market capitalisation has sunk from $2.3 billion to $940 million.
Except for a couple of weeks in March, Keppel T&T’s share price has consistently held above $5 this year, which is why the steep, sudden slide has caught investors off guard.
In response to the standard query from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) last Friday and yesterday, Keppel T&T said it was unaware of any event that would have such an impact on its shares.
It added that ‘from time to time, it evaluates a number of potential investments and joint ventures in the ordinary course of business. No decision has been reached as at the date of this announcement’.
While there was initial talk that Keppel T&T, which holds a stake in telco M1, was about to announce some bad news, most speculation - correct as it turned out - focused on margin calls.
Keppel T&T’s two largest shareholders are Keppel Corp, with 80 per cent, and investment firm Kapital Asia, which recently upped its stake from 9.19 per cent to 9.27 per cent.
Kapital Asia is owned by Indonesian-born Marcel Tjia and Singaporean businessman Agus Anwar. A few years ago, they were reported as paring their stakes in Interra Resources, which owns oil and gas fields.
Keppel T&T said last night that it had been informed by Kapital Asia that
the firm had sold 2.658 million shares
last Friday at between $3.50 and $4. Kapital Asia continued to sell shares yesterday.
‘A possible explanation for the substantial decrease in the share price is the forced selling of the shares,’ Keppel T&T said.
Every change in one percentage point of a substantial shareholder’s stake requires disclosure to the company, which will then make an SGX announcement.
Substantial shareholders have two days to make their disclosure.
Keppel T&T said the total trades by Kapital Asia do not exceed 1 per cent.
RichLand Group had an even worse day, losing 62.7 per cent to close at 12.5 cents with 9.7 million shares traded.
The firm was recently sold to Indonesian interests, including Mr Edward Soeryadjaya and Mr Soetrisno Bachir, who plan to transform the logistics provider into an oil and gas company.
In fact, the investment vehicles of Mr Bachir had just upped their stake in RichLand by about 1.77 percentage points to 59.3 per cent in open market purchases last Thursday. The shares closed at 39 cents last Thursday.
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Keppel T&T Dive May be due to Forced Selling
Key investor sold over 2.6m shares last Friday; RichLand shares also see massive drop
By Lee Su Shyan
30 September 2008
ON A day when share prices tumbled like nine pins, the plunges in Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation (Keppel T&T) and RichLand Group were so spectacular that they still caught the eye.
While the Straits Times Index was down 2.08 per cent, Keppel T&T lost 27.7 per cent and RichLand’s stock nosedived 62.7 per cent.
The cause of RichLand’s plunge remained something of a mystery, but Keppel T&T’s fall was partly due to forced selling of shares by one of its key investors.
Keppel T&T’s shares fell to as low as $1.58, down 77 cents, before it managed to claw back some losses to end at $1.70, shedding 65 cents. About 5.02 million shares were traded.
The sell-down came on the back of last Friday’s huge fall when Keppel T&T lost 43.9 per cent with 5.1 million shares traded.
That adds up to a loss of about 59 per cent, or $4.19, in two days, while its market capitalisation has sunk from $2.3 billion to $940 million.
Except for a couple of weeks in March, Keppel T&T’s share price has consistently held above $5 this year, which is why the steep, sudden slide has caught investors off guard.
In response to the standard query from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) last Friday and yesterday, Keppel T&T said it was unaware of any event that would have such an impact on its shares.
It added that ‘from time to time, it evaluates a number of potential investments and joint ventures in the ordinary course of business. No decision has been reached as at the date of this announcement’.
While there was initial talk that Keppel T&T, which holds a stake in telco M1, was about to announce some bad news, most speculation - correct as it turned out - focused on margin calls.
Keppel T&T’s two largest shareholders are Keppel Corp, with 80 per cent, and investment firm Kapital Asia, which recently upped its stake from 9.19 per cent to 9.27 per cent.
Kapital Asia is owned by Indonesian-born Marcel Tjia and Singaporean businessman Agus Anwar. A few years ago, they were reported as paring their stakes in Interra Resources, which owns oil and gas fields.
Keppel T&T said last night that it had been informed by Kapital Asia that
the firm had sold 2.658 million shares
last Friday at between $3.50 and $4. Kapital Asia continued to sell shares yesterday.
‘A possible explanation for the substantial decrease in the share price is the forced selling of the shares,’ Keppel T&T said.
Every change in one percentage point of a substantial shareholder’s stake requires disclosure to the company, which will then make an SGX announcement.
Substantial shareholders have two days to make their disclosure.
Keppel T&T said the total trades by Kapital Asia do not exceed 1 per cent.
RichLand Group had an even worse day, losing 62.7 per cent to close at 12.5 cents with 9.7 million shares traded.
The firm was recently sold to Indonesian interests, including Mr Edward Soeryadjaya and Mr Soetrisno Bachir, who plan to transform the logistics provider into an oil and gas company.
In fact, the investment vehicles of Mr Bachir had just upped their stake in RichLand by about 1.77 percentage points to 59.3 per cent in open market purchases last Thursday. The shares closed at 39 cents last Thursday.
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