SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Catalist-listed Axington, linked to the scandal-hit Loh cousins, is now a cash company and faces the risk of delisting if it does not acquire a new business within a year.
This comes after the company notified the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading (SGX-ST) on April 1 of its cash company status according to Catalist listing rules, given that it does not currently have any "revenue-generating business", according to an exchange filing on Tuesday (April 6).
Axington also noted that it has until Aug 30 to submit a resumption proposal, given that the trading of its shares had been suspended since Aug 31, 2020. A failure to do so would also result in delisting.
"The company wishes to remind shareholders that there is no assurance that the SGX-ST will resume the trading of the shares or that the company will be able to acquire a business that meets the SGX-ST's requirements for a new listing within the timeframe prescribed by the SGX-ST," said Axington.
Meanwhile, the company intends to hold its annual general meeting for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020, by July 22.
The Malaysia-incorporated company clarified that it is allowed to do so, according to rules set by the Labuan Financial Services Authority.
Formerly a professional-services group, Axington has been mired in difficulty after Singaporean businessmen and cousins Nelson Loh and Terence Loh bought out the firm in July last year.
The Loh cousins made news in August with a £280 million ($518 million) bid for Newcastle United. The bid was made under the Bellagraph Nova Group, which they founded with Chinese entrepreneur Evangeline Shen.
But their plan quickly unravelled when the media exposed how they had used doctored images which purported to show that they were rubbing shoulders with high-profile personalities like former United States president Barack Obama in Paris.
Companies linked to the Loh cousins then came under intense scrutiny.
In August, police launched an investigation into Novena Global Healthcare Group (NGH), co-founded by the Loh cousins and incorporated in Cayman Islands, for allegedly using unauthorised signatures of an accounting firm on its financial statements.
With police investigation and scandal dogging the Loh cousins and their web of companies, they decided in October to legally separate all their business interests. Amid the mounting troubles, Mr Nelson Loh is believed to have left Singapore for China.
In December, NGH was ordered to be wound up after failing to pay more than $14 million in debt to DBS Bank. Mr Nelson Loh, who stood as guarantor for the loan, has since been declared a bankrupt. Mr Terence Loh is facing bankruptcy proceedings in relation to $3 million owed to Maybank.
Last month, a medical aesthetic chain of clinics, Novu Aesthetics, run under an NGH subsidiary, shut all its outlets, leaving customers in the lurch.
• With additional information from The Straits Times
