CHEW'S Group said on Thursday that it has restored its free float to meet the regulatory requirement of at least 10 per cent held in a set number of public shareholders, and plans to resume trading of its shares from Friday at 9 am.

This comes as its controlling shareholder Goldhill Trust sold 19.5 per cent of the company to 42 independent and unrelated purchasers at the price of about S$0.2107 per share, or for a total of S$3.47 million.

Following the sale, Goldhill Trust will hold 73.9 per cent of the firm, while one of the purchasers, Ang De Yu, will become a substantial shareholder of the company with his 5.6 per cent stake.

Consequently as well, the free float - referring to the amount of shares held by public shareholders - stands at about 20.5 per cent. Under Catalist rules, at least 10 per cent of the total number of issued shares - excluding treasury shares and subsidiary holdings - are to be held by at least 200 shareholders of the company who are members of the public.

Goldhill Trust had earlier made a mandatory general offer for the rest of the group that it did not own at S$0.2107 per share, as triggered by Goldhill's purchase of a 68.14 per cent stake in Chew's for S$12.13 million from members of the Chew family. Goldhill is owned by businessmen Alex Tan Pei Hong and Amos Tan Theng Hong. 

Shares of Chew's Group last traded at S$0.21.