JES International places out 183m new shares worth $6.6m

SINGAPORE - Chinese shipbuilder JES International Holdings has placed out a total of 183 million new ordinary shares at $0.036 to two subscribers - investment holding company Brilliant Choice International and Mr Sun Yiyi.

The new shares represent about 15.5 per cent of the total number of issued shares in JES International, the mainboard-listed company said in a filing with the Singapore Exchange on Tuesday (Jan 27).

JES International will use the $6.6 million share subscription to pay part of a settlement amount to its main shareholder, JES Overseas Investment Limited (JESOIL).

On July 4 last year, JES International had borrowed 120.8 million of its ordinary shares from JESOIL to transfer to Chinese nationals Mr Yang Shushan and Mr Yang Nan, in exchange for a 20 per cent stake in African forestry enterprise SCIBOIS.

JESOIL has since requested for the shares, valued at approximately $11.2 million, to be returned. JES International is unable to do so but has agreed to pay JESOIL a partial settlement.

Both subscribers are contacts built up by Mr Jin Xin, chairman and chief executive of JES International. The subscribers had previously expressed their interest to participate in JES's potential placement exercise, said JES International .

Brilliant Choice International is a company incorporated in The British Virgin Islands focused on investing in assets, including marine assets, said the filing.

Mr Sun Yiyi's family is in the construction business in China and he is in diversifying his family's investment portfolio to include marine-related business, said Mr Jin Xin.

JES International shares were up 0.1 of a cent at 3.8 cents around noon on Tuesday.

marilee@sph.com.sg

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