Datapulse shareholders to cast votes at April 20 EGM

Singapore

DATAPULSE Technology's long-awaited extraordinary general meeting now has a date set. The disk drive maker will hold the meeting on April 20, it said on Tuesday night.

Shareholders will vote on a proposed change of board, and could be asked to give their stamp of approval for a proposed diversification into a consumer and/or investment business.

The meeting falls within the two-month window from the date of a fresh requisition notice filed by Ng Bie Tjin, the daughter of Datapulse co-founder Ng Khim Guan. She and the company had been engaged in a back-and-forth over the validity of an earlier requisition notice from December.

Ms Ng seeks to oust a set of recently-appointed directors and replace them with four others, including herself. At stake is Datapulse's acquisition of a Malaysian personal care product business which took place after a board shake-up on last Dec 11.

Ms Ng has called for a resolution to halt any diversification beyond Datapulse's businesses as at Dec 10, 2017. But on the table instead is what was dubbed "Ordinary Resolution 9", proposing that shareholders approve "the expansion and diversification of the core business(es) of the group".

This would be subject to the recommendations of an independent review which the Singapore Exchange has required Datapulse to carry out, in a notice of compliance on Feb 23.

Still, Ordinary Resolution 9 would not be put up for voting in the event of a board reshuffle, Datapulse said. This is so "the reconstituted board would be given the opportunity to reconsider the proposed business diversification and decide on the appropriate course of action for the company thereafter".

A dialogue session for shareholders, to be held in collaboration with the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), has tentatively been brought forward to March 26.