Otto Marine requests for trading halt pending announcement

OFFSHORE marine group Otto Marine, which has received an offer to be taken private, on Wednesday morning requested for an immediate halt to the trading of its shares on Singapore Exchange (SGX).

In a filing to SGX, it said the request was made in view of a coming announcement.

Otto Marine had received in June a takeover offer by its executive chairman, Malaysian tycoon Yaw Chee Siew. The offer was at 32 Singapore cents per share.

On Tuesday evening, heavy equipment supplier and vessel charterer Hoe Leong said a previous application filed by Otto Marine with the Singapore High Court to wind up the company has been withdrawn.

The withdrawal comes "upon payment of US$920,000 without admission of liability that the debt is due", Hoe Leong said.

The sum is understood to be due from the dissolution of a vessel-owning joint venture between the two companies in 2014.

Otto Marine said last month it had filed the winding-up application. It was understood to be tightening their debt collection upon demands from its own trade creditors.

Shares of Otto Marine closed on Tuesday at S$0.315 apiece, flat from its close on Friday last week.