New Silkroutes unit to buy majority stake in European fund manager for US$2.6m

NEW Silkroutes Group (NSG) on Thursday announced that its wholly owned subsidiary New Silkroutes Capital (NSC) will acquire a 66 per cent stake in European fund manager, Culross Global Holdings for US$2.6 million.

NSG will pay US$528,000 in cash, in two equal tranches. The remainder will be fulfilled via the issue of new ordinary shares at an issue price representing the average of the firm's closing share prices five business days prior to the transaction date, plus three Singapore cents.

NSG and its vendors have until April 19, 2018 to complete the transaction. Among other things, NSC will be responsible for raising funds to support the group's investments mainly in the energy and healthcare sectors.

"We have consistently been focused on building up the financial services capabilities of NSC," said NSG's CEO Goh Jin Hian.

"Think of NSC as NSG's financial dashboard, through which we will raise and allocate funds to support our energy, healthcare and real estate investments and projects. Some of this financial expertise will come from Culross Global, which has a significant representation in Europe's fund management industry," he added.

Assuming that the transaction had been completed previously, the pro forma financial effects of the proposed acquisition includes a reduction in the loss per share from 1.38 US cents to 0.82 US cent. Meanwhile, net asset value per share attributable to shareholders will decrease slightly from 23.77 US cents to 23.33 US cents due to an increase in the number of shares following the acquisition.

As part of its efforts to expand its healthcare business, NSG has been rapidly acquiring dental clinics in Singapore.

On Oct 11, NSG said that it would purchase a 70 per cent stake in three dental clinics by issuing new shares at 44 Singapore cents apiece. This comes only four months after it completed the acquisition of six dental clinics and two dental supplies companies in Singapore.

Mainboard-listed NSG is in the business of oil and gas trading, enterprise info-communication system integration, and network security.