Ascapia may make offer for Datapulse; faces suit over 'baseless claims'

Singapore

SINGAPORE-BASED hedge fund Ascapia Capital, which already owns some 410,000 shares in cash-rich Datapulse Technology, is mulling a possible partial offer for the company in the hope of setting things right at the firm.

"That is the game plan. We want 27 per cent (stake) so we can have a say," Ascapia's portfolio manager Wesley Widjaja told The Business Times. "But it's on pause for now... although we remain open to it as the company's shareholder base is fragmented (there are about 9,000 minority shareholders as at Jan 25) and we need to examine our options," he added.

Ascapia, a registered fund management company which Mr Widjaya described as a "value investor", is currently invested in 25-30 firms across the world including a stake in Singapore's Catalist-listed Isoteam.

"Our approach is fundamental-based investments in companies where the management is in line with minority interests," he said, adding that where there may be doubts, the investment firm may be interested to find an avenue to pick up a stake or launch an offer for the minority shares - as may be in the case of Datapulse.

BT understands Singapore's Securities Industry Council has given its go-ahead to Ascapia for the partial offer following the firm's application in January to seek the council's consent.

If that materialises, it could add another dimension to the ongoing Datapulse saga that has caught the attention of governance hawks and the ire of some minority shareholders.

Since a sudden ownership change last November, the company has found itself in the middle of a full-blown shareholder feud sparked by a board revamp and the S$3.5 million acquisition of Wayco Manufacturing, a Malaysian-incorporated hair care products maker.

Ng Siew Hong, a 51-year old accountant, had emerged with a 29 per cent stake in the digital media storage maker after she picked up the block from Datapulse co-founder Ng Cheow Chye at a premium of 55 Singapore cents per share versus the stock price that stood around 36 Singapore cents then. The stock closed on Tuesday at 34 Singapore cents, up 1.5 Singapore cents or 4.6 per cent.

"I have good intentions coming into Datapulse... I felt there was a gap there and I would be able to help fill that with my knowledge of accounting and investments," Ms Ng told BT in an earlier interview.

The shareholder fight will culminate in an extraordinary general meeting on April 20 that was requisitioned by Ng Bie Tjin - a former finance director of the firm and daughter of Datapulse's other co-founder Ng Khim Guan - to contest the board overhaul and company's diversification agenda.

On Tuesday, the Datapulse story took a turn with the company announcing that it has filed a writ of summons and statement of claim against Ascapia.

In an announcement to the Singapore Exchange, Datapulse said the claim was related to Ascapia's open letter to minority shareholders dated January 25 which contained "baseless allegations".

"Ascapia were given reasonable opportunity but had refused to withdraw their allegations and remove the letter from the website inspite of the clarifications made in the company's announcements," said Datapulse.

In the statement of claim dated March 1 filed by Datapulse's legal counsel Infinitus Law Corporation, a copy of which was obtained by BT, Datapulse also referred to Ascapia's letter dated January 16 to Ms Ng Siew Hong whereby the investment firm had offered to buy nearly 55 million shares from her.

"We will be vigorously defending the legal proceedings," said Lau Kah Hee of Derrick Wong & Lim BC LLP, Ascapia's legal counsel.

The first pre-trial conference on the case has been set for April 24.