Chemical Industries says companies linked to co-founder do not use its office for business

SEVERAL firms located at, and registered under, the same office address as Chemical Industries : C05 0% are investment-holding companies of its co-founder, Lim Soo Peng, and do not conduct any business operations at the premises, said Chemical Industries on Thursday (Mar 14).

Responding to queries from the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or Sias, the chemical manufacturer added that these companies use its premises at 17 Upper Circular Road “solely” as their registered office, and do not engage in business operations from there.

“Some of the relevant companies have already been struck off from the register of companies maintained by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra),” it added.

Its response came after Sias raised queries on Feb 21 on the use of the company’s premises.

Sias founder and chief executive David Gerald had noted that Chemical Industries was sharing the fifth floor of Juta Building with five other companies, of which two were subsidiaries of the company and another two were owned by Lim.

Gerald said that a search on the Acra system showed that a total of eight companies appear to share the same address as Chemical Industries. These businesses were either linked to or appeared to be associated with Lim.

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The Feb 21 queries were raised following Chemical Industries’ answers to a first set of clarifications issued by Sias on Feb 14.

Questions and answers

The series of exchanges between Sias and Chemical Industries began after shareholders of the mainboard-listed company raised concerns to its board in January over issues including a spate of senior management resignations, and money spent on alleged “post-retirement perks” awarded to Lim, who is also the company’s emeritus chairman.

On Feb 21, Sias asked Chemical Industries to clarify how long the various companies had been registered to its premises, and whether Lim will continue to use the site as the registered address for his private companies.

It also asked the chemical manufacturer to explain if the arrangement would be considered a “private benefit” received by the company’s director and part of his remuneration.

On Thursday, Chemical Industries reiterated that Lim did not use the company’s premises as his personal office.

Sias had also asked if the board of Chemical Industries was aware that its secretary, Foo Soon Soo, also served as the secretary of Lim’s private company, SP Lim Holdings, and possibly some of his other companies, and whether this was a conflict of interest.

In response, Chemical Industries said that its board was aware that Foo’s employer, KCK CorpServe, provided corporate secretarial services to both Chemical Industries and Lim’s other companies.

It added that the other companies pay a fee to KCK for these services, and that Chemical Industries did not pay any costs incurred by these companies.

There was also no conflict of interest in Foo’s appointment as secretary, given that neither KCK nor Foo is involved in the management and affairs of either the group or Lim’s other companies, said Chemical Industries.

Addressing Sias’ request for a timeline on the appointment of a new CEO, the company said that its nominating committee is currently in the process of interviewing the shortlisted candidates.

The board will conduct final interviews to select the new CEO once the committee identifies the most suitable candidates.

“Given the importance of this decision, the board requires adequate time for deliberation. In the meantime, the company has made arrangements for its interim executive leadership,” Chemical Industries added, referring to its earlier announcement that Yeoh Beng Chai would be appointed the acting CEO on Apr 1.

Sias had also questioned whether all the company’s board members had reviewed and approved its announcements on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), including its Feb 18 responses to Sias and SGX RegCo.

Chemical Industries said in its reply that the entire board reviews and approves all announcements.

The company’s shares closed flat at S$0.50 on Thursday prior to the announcement.