Company Briefs: Sunmart Holdings

Sunmart Holdings

Packaging-maker Sunmart Holdings said yesterday that it is considering voluntarily delisting its shares from the Singapore Exchange.

Sunmart's auditors had said earlier this month that the firm's borrowings exceeded its cash and cash equivalents as at Dec 31.

Trading in the company's shares has been suspended since April 2012, when auditors flagged anomalies in accounting recorded by Sunmart's subsidiaries.

The company said it is "in the early stages of considering a possible voluntary delisting of its shares", adding that "there is no certainty or assurance that the possible delisting will eventually be carried out".


Sembcorp Industries

Sembcorp Industries joined the National University of Singapore (NUS) yesterday to establish a corporate laboratory to develop new solutions to reduce emissions, enhance water and wastewater-treatment systems, and extract resources from waste.

The Sembcorp-NUS Corporate Laboratory, which will be based in the Faculty of Engineering at NUS, was set up with a jointly funded investment of $60 million.

Mr Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, and also chairman of the National Research Foundation, was guest of honour at the launch event yesterday.


Manulife Financial

Canadian financial services group Manulife has begun its second attempt to list its US office real estate investment trust in Singapore, betting on better market conditions and an improved yield, FinanceAsia reported on Tuesday.

The publication said Manulife started pre-marketing the initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday and is aiming for a May 20 listing.

It quoted bankers as saying that the IPO could raise around US$500 million (S$670 million), slightly more than the S$569 million targeted the last time.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 21, 2016, with the headline Company Briefs: Sunmart Holdings. Subscribe