Foreland Fabrictech Holdings

Beleaguered Chinese textile maker Foreland Fabrictech Holdings has lost all of its independent directors, with only executive chairman Yang Meng Yang left on the board.

Messrs Seah Chee Wei, Wu Geng and Lim Aik Bin resigned in one fell swoop on Thursday, with all of them saying they left "to pursue other interests".

Mr Seah and Mr Wu joined the board in late 2014, while Mr Lim was appointed in November 2017.

The latest board announcement, signed by Mr Yang, said the company is now looking for new candidates to reconstitute the board and the nominating, remuneration and audit committees, to comply with Singapore regulations.

Foreland Fabrictech, which has been suspended from trading since Dec 27, 2016, said earlier in the week it did not know how much it owed in a Chinese court case that dated back to 2013.

It also faces a legal imbroglio involving former executive chairman Tsoi Kin Chit, whom the company has accused of going rogue with a subsidiary in China despite his resignation in 2016. Foreland Fabrictech said in May 2018 it "may have lost control" of that subsidiary, Fulian Knitting Co, including not having full access to its funds.

Chip Eng Seng

Chip Eng Seng, through a subsidiary, has signed a sale and purchase agreement with an affiliate of private equity firm Navis Capital to acquire 70 per cent of White Lodge Education Group Services for $13.3 million in cash.

White Lodge operates a chain of pre-school centres in Singapore and Malaysia. Since its inception in 1999, White Lodge has expanded from one pre-school centre in Bukit Timah to seven pre-school centres in Singapore and two pre-school centres in Malaysia.

Chip Eng Seng said the purchase price will be further adjusted for any changes in the working capital of White Lodge and its subsidiaries. The purchase price will be funded and paid out of the group's internal cash resources.

The completion of the sale is conditional on consent being obtained for some properties leased by the White Lodge Group, and is expected to take place in the third quarter of this year.