CEFC International revealed yesterday that it is a tightly held company in which just 62 shareholders hold more than 96 per cent of its issued capital.

The investment holding company, which deals in trading of petrochemical and fuel oil and petroleum products, was responding to queries from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) last week following a sharp run-up in its share price.

The stock surged 21.4 per cent to 34 cents last Friday. In the past two weeks, CEFC shares have rocketed by a staggering 900 per cent, leading to market talk that a corner situation may have arisen.

In its response yesterday, CEFC said that based on the company's annual report for 2014, the latest shareholding statistics as at March 13, 2015, showed that 62 shareholders out of 1,659 held more than one million shares each.

At the top of the heap is controlling shareholder Singapore Petrochemical & Energy Development, which has a 76.6 per cent stake.

CEFC explained that it was unable to obtain the latest shareholding statistics from its share registrar as SGX's request concerning the percentage of shares held in public hands was made at the close of business on Friday. It said it will try to obtain the figures immediately after the office opens today.

It added that it would make an announcement if there were any changes to the shareholding statistics. However, it can confirm that Singapore Petrochemical's shareholding remains at 76.6 per cent and that the shareholder has not sold or bought any CEFC shares since March 13.

CEFC has also been informed by Singapore Petrochemical that none of its shares has been pledged as a collateral for borrowing.

Based on the latest available information, CEFC believes that the public float - shares that are in the hands of the public - is about 23.4 per cent.