Itochu Corp to join DBS as investor in Halcyon Agri Corp trading platform

JAPANESE trading giant Itochu Corp will invest in mainboard-listed rubber dealer Halcyon Agri Corp's digital marketplace subsidiary, the Halcyon board said on Friday.

The subsidiary, HeveaConnect, has agreed to a placement of ordinary shares to Itochu, it said. Principal terms of the share subscription "are being finalised and will be announced in due course", the board added.

Separately, an Indonesian Itochu unit, Aneka Bumi Pratama, also inked a memorandum of understanding to adopt HeveaPro standards for Technically Specified Rubber (TSR) production.

HeveaConnect was launched in December 2018 as a trading platform for sustainably processed natural rubber, including the exclusive sale of HeveaPro-sustainably certified TSR, a Halcyon product.

Local lender DBS Bank took a minority stake in HeveaConnect at the time. Itochu will now join DBS as a joint venture partner in HeveaConnect, said the Halcyon board.

Halcyon closed down by S$0.015, or 3.23 per cent, to S$0.45, before the announcement.