Kitchen Culture will put pivot to artificial intelligence to Oct 7 shareholder vote

CATALIST-LISTED kitchen-equipment supplier Kitchen Culture Holdings has called for a shareholder vote on Oct 7 over its plan to invest in a Chinese financial technology firm.

The extraordinary general meeting (EGM), to be held electronically, was announced by the board in a bourse filing on Monday night.

Kitchen Culture unveiled plans last month to take a 30 per cent stake in Ooway Technology, which runs an artificial intelligence (AI)-based credit management platform.

Shareholders must approve the S$23.9 million deal - to be funded by issuing 90 million new shares at 26.58 Singapore cents apiece - at the upcoming EGM. The new shares would represent 21.42 per cent of the enlarged share capital of Kitchen Culture.

The transaction is part of a proposed diversification of Kitchen Culture's business into AI, machine learning and data science - a move that is also up for a vote at the EGM.

If shareholders give the green light to the deal and the diversification, they will be asked to approve a transfer of a controlling interest to Ooway.

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Shareholders must also vote on paying an introducer fee of close to S$1.2 million, in the form of 4.5 million new shares or 1.06 per cent of the enlarged share capital.

Kitchen Culture's board said that the company was introduced to Ooway by Hong Kong-incorporated Precious Glory Enterprises, which is owned by Tan Chin Tuan and Li Jingjing. Neither Mr Tan nor Ms Li are related to the directors or controlling shareholders or their associates; they are also not shareholders themselves, said the board.

The EGM will be streamed over a live webcast and audio feed. Shareholders must pre-register online and submit their proxy voting forms by 10 am on Oct 5.

The company's shares closed down by 1.6 Singapore cents, or 10.81 per cent, to S$0.132 on Monday.