Pan-El saga - A small problem that changed many things in S'pore

PAN-Electric Industries, the small but rather significant listed company in Singapore, was suspended from listing on Nov 19, 1985. Its significance drew from its connections and its involvement in "unusual" financial transactions - the forward share contracts that may, or may not, have been genuine. Its connections reached into the heart of the Malaysian government but, more significantly for Singapore, it involved several thousand small shareholders, who had assumed that the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) regulated listing more carefully. Thus it was a political scandal in the making - locally and across the Causeway.

The jitters that started with suspension reached fever pitch as facts and rumours emerged after Nov 19. By Nov 30, it was clear to all interested parties (except the small shareholders, who screamed about a cover-up) that Pan-El was dead and it went into receivership.

The Singapore (and Malaysian) authorities were sufficiently concerned that the stock markets of both countries were closed for the next three working days. The move was to calm nerves as too many people feared a run on the market and some sort of financial meltdown. In retrospect, this was quite unlikely, given that the big counters were both closely held and mainly related to the governments. In politicians' terms it was a "bold" move, but it paid off.