Corporate digest

Lonza Group

CHEMICALS and biotech company Lonza Group will buy a sterile drug product fill-and-finish facility in Stein, Switzerland, from Novartis. Lonza, which has a secondary listing on the Singapore Exchange, said it had entered into a binding contractual commitment for the acquisition, but did not disclose the purchase price.

It will use the facility to manufacture drug products for Novartis, as well as to provide production capacity for its additional customers.

New Silkroutes Group

NEW Silkroutes Group (NSG) has announced that the sale and purchase agreement for the disposal of International Energy Group (IEG) to TK Energy has lapsed as at June 30, with the buyer having failed to disburse the loans to New Silkroutes Capital (NSC) and IEG under the respective loan agreements. The buyer has not demonstrated its ability to inject the required capital into IEG for its business, NSG said, adding that it will continue to look for a suitable buyer with the financial means to maintain and grow IEG's business.

Memtech

THE SINGAPORE Exchange said that it would suspend trading of shares in Memtech International on the stock exchange at the close of an offer from Memtech's controlling shareholders after the company's free float fell under the 10 per cent mark. At 5pm on June 28, the total number of shares owned, controlled or agreed to be acquired by the offeror - and parties acting in concert with it - amounted to about 128.81 million shares, representing about 91.96 per cent of the company.

The Chuang family has made a voluntary conditional offer for the electronics components manufacturer at S$1.35 in cash for each share. The closing date for the offer is July 26 at 5.30pm.

Innopac Holdings

INNOPAC Holdings does not have the cash resources to consider making an exit offer to its shareholders, the company said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Monday. This comes as SGX will be proceeding to delist Innopac after it failed to meet the necessary requirements to remove itself from the watch-list over the past 36 months.

Listing rules state that on being served a delisting notification, the company or its controlling shareholders must provide a reasonable exit offer to shareholders as soon as possible and no later than one month from the date of the delisting notice.

Innopac, which does not have a controlling shareholder, said that it has not received any proposal or exit offer from any shareholder. The board is currently exploring options to move the company forward, including monetising the group's assets.