Metech enters joint venture with X Diamond Capital to make lab-grown diamonds

METECH International's wholly-owned subsidiary, Asian Green Tech (AGT), has entered into a joint venture (JV) with X Diamond Capital Pte Ltd (XDC) to manufacture and distribute lab-grown diamonds.

In a bourse filing on Thursday, the Catalist-listed company said that the JV company will be incorporated as Asian Eco Technology and will initially have an issued and paid-up capital of S$500,000 divided into 500,000 ordinary shares.

AGT will own 51 per cent of the share capital, while XDC will own the remainder.

AGT's stake will be funded through internal resources, bank borrowings and potentially equity fund raising as well. Metech said that the JV is not expected to have any material impact on the earnings per share or net tangible assets per share of the group for the financial year ending June 30, 2022.

XDC is an exempt private company that is involved in the wholesale of jewellery made from precious metals and stones, as well as the manufacture of piezo-electric devices. The company is owned by Deng Yiming, Xu Kang and Yang Hanyu, each of whom hold 40 per cent, 35 per cent and 25 per cent of XDC's shares respectively.

Metech said that the joint venture is in line with the group's strategy to expand into the environmental and sustainability business, as lab-grown diamonds are more sustainable than mined diamonds to produce.

Metech shares were flat at S$0.191 before the company called for a trading halt at 1.19pm on Friday before making the announcement.