Axington to make an announcement related to chairman Evangeline Shen

IT has been two months since the Loh cousins' buyout of Catalist-listed Axington, and there has not been a dull moment.

On Wednesday morning, trading in the counter was halted pending an announcement. The Business Times understands that the announcement is likely to be in relation to Evangeline Shen or Shen Che who is Axington's non-independent non-executive chairman.

Ms Shen, 32, was appointed to Axington's board on July 14 this year following the takeover of the firm by Singaporean cousins Nelson Loh and Terence Loh. She co-founded Bellagraph Nova Group (BN Group) with the duo after a merger of the Lohs' Dorr Group and Bellagraph in June this year.

BN Group and its backers have drawn intense scrutiny since news broke that the Singapore-registered group was bidding for English Premier League club Newcastle United. This was followed by a series of confounding events that included the firm admitting it had doctored photographs of former US President Barack Obama in marketing materials used to publicise the newly formed group.

On Tuesday, BN Group withdrew a press statement issued more than a month ago relating to a purported private meeting with Mr Obama. This was followed by a late-night announcement where BN Group squarely laid the blame of the controversial marketing material on "errant individuals, possibly with malicious intent".

The fallout has hurt the listed firm. On Tuesday, former US ambassador to Singapore Kirk Wagar, who joined Axington's board as independent director on July 21, resigned. He told The Straits Times: "Due to the recent revelations, I have resigned that position and asked for Axington to advise Singapore Exchange and any other relevant parties of that fact."

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Since the lifting of its trading suspension and with trading resuming on Aug 19, Axington shares have had a wild ride. Last week, it hit a high of 22.5 Singapore cents, possibly buoyed by news of its owners' and chairman's interest in the football club. It has since fallen to 19 cents on Tuesday, its last trading day before the halt.

The saga is unfolding ahead of an extraordinary general meeting on Thursday where shareholders will vote on a proposed rights issue as well as Axington's second name change, this time to NETX.