EGM to oust Pine Capital directors to take place at later date

THE board of Catalist-listed investment firm Pine Capital said on Monday night that the requisition notice from three shareholders seeking to oust its directors was not duly served and is invalid.

The requisitioning shareholders - Jessie Sun, Pine Partners and JMO Pte Ltd - had sought to convene an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to vote on the removal of executive chairman and interim chief executive Tan Choon Wee, as well as independent directors Roy Ling Chung Yee and Chong Chee Hoong.

The requisitioning shareholders together own 51.94 per cent of Pine Capital's shares, or no less than 10 per cent required to convene an EGM.

However, Pine Capital's board said it was given legal advice that the EGM notice was not duly served as per the company's constitution, and is invalid: "The EGM Notice has not been served on any member through the post in a prepaid cover at his or her registered address etc, and has not been advertised in the daily press."

Pine Capital said it is in the midst of liaising with the relevant professional parties to ensure that the EGM Notice (with a revised date of the notice itself as well as a revised date of EGM) will be served duly in accordance with the company's constitution.  

The requisition letter had originally been received by the board on Feb 7, and called for an EGM on March 8.

In July 2017, Pine Capital, formerly known as OLS Enterprise, completed the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in Advance Capital Partners Asset Management, which is run by Tan Choon Wee. Mr Tan had been financing OLS with a convertible bond programme.

Thereafter, OLS Enterprise was known as Pine Capital. Mr Tan was appointed a non-executive director of Pine Capital in August 2017, and redesignated as interim CEO and executive chairman on June 1.