Completion of APS RTO deal extended

Singapore

TRADERS balked at the uncertainty of Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments' reverse takeover deal involving miner Coeur Gold Armenia after the firm said - for the second time - that the deal needed more time to be sealed.

APS shares lost 0.9 Singapore cent, or just over 15 per cent, to end at five Singapore cents on Monday. It hogged the most active list on the local bourse with 87 million shares worth S$4.7 million done. Week on week, the counter has shed 17 per cent and is now trading at more than half the year's high of 10.7 Singapore cents scaled in early April.

On Monday, substantial shareholder Lim Soon Fang bought another 11.8 million shares at 5.5 Singapore cents each to boost his stake from 6.59 per cent to 7.58 per cent, while non-executive director Hano Maeloa also bought 10 million shares at 5.1 Singapore cents each, boosting his shareholding from 7.74 per cent to 8.58 per cent.

Last Friday, APS said that the long-stop date for the deal has been extended from 8 to 12 months from February 25, 2014 - the date of the sale and purchase agreement. Trading in the counter was halted on Friday afternoon pending this announcement. This is the second time that the deadline has been extended. In June, the firm said that both parties needed more time - till October - to meet the conditions of the agreement.

The extension this time, according to APS, was requested by the vendor GR Business Holdings to complete its proposed change in shareholder structure. It is selling its full stake in the miner to APS for S$500 million. To fund the purchase, APS will issue 1.35 billion new shares to GR Business at 37.1 Singapore cents each which will result in the latter owning over 85 per cent of APS when the deal is completed.