SINGAPORE - CEFC International has revealed that it is a tightly held company in which just 62 shareholders hold more than 96 per cent of the 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) following a sharp run-up in its share price.

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

In a statement on Sunday, CEFC said that based on the company's annual report for 2014, the latest shareholding statistics as at March 31, 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 the public hands was made at the close of business last Friday .

It said it will endeavor to do so immediately when office reopens tomorrow when it can obtain such information from its share registrar.

It will make the relevant update announcement if there are any changes to the shareholding statistics.

However, it can confirm that Singapore Petrochemical & Energy Development's shareholding remains at 76.6 per cent and it had not sold or bought any shares since March 13.

It has also been informed by its controlling shareholder that none of its shares held has been pledged as a collateral for borrowing.

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