SINGAPORE - S i2i Ltd, a watch-list firm on the Singapore Exchange's mainboard, has been served a letter by a group of shareholders calling for either the company's chairman to make a voluntary general offer or for a change of directors to prepare for a winding down of the company though a disposal of its assets.
The group of shareholders, who say they collectively own a substantial amount of the company shares, are represented by Blue Ocean Capital Partners Pte Ltd, a finacial consultancy services firm.
Said Blue Ocean's founder and chairman, Mr Loo Cheng Guan, in a media statement on Monday (feb 27): "S i2i's shareholder value has unwittingly been severely impacted by the lack of a clear and cogent turnaround plan. In the last two years S i2i has been placed on the SGX watch list and is in imminent danger of being suspended and possibly delisted.
"For long-forebearing shareholders, the remaining value, if left disregarded, runs the risk of being destroyed altogether under the stewardship of its current board of directors."
S i2i was placed on SGX's watch list on March 4, 2015, and had until March 3 this year to meet the listing manual requirements. It was allowed to extend this deadline for another 12 months to March 2018.
Blue Ocean said in its letter dated Feb 21, 2017, that while S i2i's chairman and single largest shareholder, Bhupendra Kumar Modi, "may have tried his best" to satisfy the listing requirements, these efforts were "clearly insufficient".
It proposed now that Mr Modi make a voluntary unconditional general offer for S i2i shares at S$3.77 per share, based on the company's net tangible assets of S$51.73 million and total issued shares of 13.7 million as at September 2016.
The company's shares were trading at S$2.29, up 1.8 per cent, at 1:40pm on Monday.
For the winding down option, the group is asking that the board to be reconstituted to formulate and execute such a plan by voluntary resignation of its four current directors and the appointment of Mr Loo and Mr Daniel Lin, Blue Ocean executive director, as new directors.
