Datapulse's board serves Ascapia Capital writ of summons for defamation

THE board of Datapulse Technology said that it had on March 1 filed a writ of summons and statement of claim against Singapore-based hedge fund Ascapia Capital over a claim for defamation.

The claim relates to Ascapia's publication of an open letter titled Minority shareholders demand answers dated Jan 25 to the company's shareholders and the Singapore Exchange, as well as on a website accessible by the public.

Datapulse is claiming, among other things, for the baseless allegations the fund had made against the company and the board in the letter, which appears to be calculated to cause "pecuniary damage" to their reputation, trade and business, it said.

"Ascapia was given reasonable opportunity, but had refused to withdraw their allegations and remove the letter from the website, in spite of the clarifications made in the company's announcements," it said.