SINGAPORE - The following companies saw new developments which may affect trading of their shares on Wednesday (Oct 17):
Keppel Infrastructure Trust: It confirmed "its participation in a sale process for Ixom" in a Singapore Exchange filing on Tuesday night, following media reports about its potential interest in Australian chemical firm Ixom Holdco Pty Ltd, which is controlled by Blackstone Group. Ixom manufactures and distributes essential water treatment chemicals and other chemicals. Keppel said there is no certainty or assurance that such a transaction will materialise. According to those press reports, people familiar with the matter had said in August that a sale of Ixom could fetch more than US$1 billion.
Noble Group: Noble Group announced on Tuesday that it and Noble Group Holdings have launched an offer to exchange Noble's US$400 million in aggregate principal amount of 6 per cent perpetual capital securities for US$25 million in aggregate principal amount of 2.5 per cent perpetual capital securities to be issued by New Noble. Holders are being invited to exchange each US$200,000 in principal amount of existing securities for US$12,500 in principal amount of new securities. Noble said the proposed offer is aimed at returning value to existing securities holders, since if the proposed restructuring does not complete and the company is put through liquidation, existing security holders would very likely receive nothing and if at all, be entitled to a recovery after existing senior creditors have been paid completely.
Consent is being solicited from existing securities holders to cancel all arrears of distribution and any additional distribution amounts that have accrued or are due on existing securities; amend the terms and conditions of the securities to provide for the mandatory transfer to New Noble; and waive any claims that holders had, has or may have against Noble, New Noble and certain other parties in connection with, among other things, the existing securities, the exchange offer and the consent solicitation.
It also published a notice to convene a meeting of the existing securities holders on Nov 7, 2018 to vote on the extraordinary resolution.
IEV Holdings: IEV Holdings is proposing to dispose its 95 per cent stake in loss-making unit PT IEV Gas for 7.48 billion rupiah (S$677,554) to PT Digas Energi Semesta, in a bid to eventually exit from the mobile natural gas business in Indonesia. Achwan Widiyanto, a director of IEV Gas who holds the remaining stake in IEV Gas, is director of PT Digas Energi Semesta amd holds 72 per cent of the shares. IEV Holdings said its mobile natural gas sector had been reporting losses since the financial year ended Dec 31, 2015, due to lower global energy prices and a challenging mobile natural gas business landscape in Indonesia.
Datapulse Technology: It has responded to Singapore Exchange (SGX) queries about the company's full-year financial results announced on Sept 29. Datapulse gave a breakdown of a $1.4 million increase in operating expenditures, saying that it was mainly due to a $1 million increase in legal and professional costs, lower exchange gains recognised in FY2018 of $0.2 million, inclusion of $0.1 million operating expenses from newly-acquired subsidiary Wayco Manufacturing (M) Sdn Bhd, and $0.1 million in rental of office and warehouse premises. It also explained a change in Datapulse's policy for measurement of its investment property to measurement at fair value, saying the reason was that that provides more relevant information about the financial performance of these assets. The firm also said this measurement "helps users to better understand the risks associatedwith these assets and is consistent with industry practice in relation to these types of assets".
