SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Shares of Singapore's Jaya Holdings soared as much as 23 per cent in high turnover on Wednesday, after they went ex-dividend.

Jaya announced last week it would pay $0.16 per share on or about July 14, and the record date for the purpose of determining the shareholders' entitlement to the cash distribution would be July 4.

Earlier in the year, Australia-based Mermaid Marine agreed to buy all subsidiaries of Jaya, a Singapore-based service provider to offshore oil and gas activities, for $625 million. Jaya said at the time it intended to distribute a significant portion of the amount to shareholders by way of a cash dividend.

Jaya traded as high as $0.043, a level unseen in more than six years, with volume exceeding 26 times of its 90-day daily turnover. It was the most traded stock on the Singapore Exchange.