Back to basics after boo-boo

FORGETTING that a stock was trading ex-dividend is the kind of embarrassing mistake that happens to rookie traders, not an experienced investment bank like Credit Suisse.

Where the market was concerned last Tuesday, OSIM International founder Ron Sim's sweetened, and supposedly final offer price for the company had gone up from S$1.30 to S$1.37, excluding the dividend.

For some reason, Credit Suisse, the broker acting on Mr Sim's privatisation bid, operated on instructions to buy till S$1.39. It now assures us that its "inadvertent" purchases were just that - a mistake made in all innocence.