Ellipsiz up as major stake changes hands
Singapore
SHARE trading activity spiked at semiconductor testing firm Ellipsiz Ltd on Monday after the company's chief executive officer sold most of his stake to a construction company boss. This came after the company's founder had divested his stake in the past month, including to the CEO.
By the time the dust settled on Monday, Ellipsiz was at a more than four-year high of S$0.145 and David Lum Kok Seng, the managing director of construction firm Lum Chang Holdings, had become the company's largest shareholder with a 20.44 per cent stake.
More than 180 million shares were traded. A disclosure revealed that Mr Lum bought 100 million shares in an off-market deal from the previous largest shareholder, chief executive Melvin Chan Wai Leong. The price paid was S$0.15 a share, or S$15 million. With that, Mr Lum raised his stake from 2.35 per cent to 20.44 per cent while Mr Chan's fell from 19.79 per cent to 1.7 per cent.
The divestment by Mr Chan came after he had increased his stake from under 11 per cent to almost 20 per cent. The trades began a week after a UOB Kay Hian report on March 9 set a target price of S$0.171 while the stock was trading at S$0.096. The broker wrote: "With an estimated 4 per cent share of the global probe card market and a strong net cash of S$26 million, 50 per cent of its current market cap, we think Ellipsiz is an attractive M&A (mergers and acquisitions) target as the industry continues to consolidate."
Mr Chan bought 35 million shares from non-executive chairman and founder Xavier Chong Fook Choy at S$0.11 a share in an off-market transaction. This was disclosed on March 17. Mr Chong also sold another 11 million shares to other parties. Independent director Phoon Wai Meng then sold his stake of 561,300 shares on the market at S$0.1157 a share, disclosed on March 18.
On March 30, Mr Chong sold his remaining 10.5 million shares at around S$0.134 a share even as Mr Chan bought another 7.28 million shares at the same price. Mr Chan then bought another 7 million shares at S$0.135 a share, disclosed on Apr 2, before his latest disposal. In a twist, it was disclosed on Monday evening that Mr Chan bought 7.5 million shares in an off-market deal, boosting his stake from 1.7 per cent to 3.06 per cent.
Ellipsiz reported net profit of S$1.7 million for its second quarter ended December 31, 2014, up 41 per cent from S$1.2 million a year ago.
