TROUBLED Catalist-listed investment firm Pine Capital will lose its listing sponsor over the weekend because of compliance concerns, the board disclosed in a filing on Friday.

The board is now in talks with potential sponsor candidates, it added, although it warned that any incoming sponsor could take up to a month to carry out due diligence.

Asian Corporate Advisors (ACA) will stop its sponsorship on Sept 27. Pine Capital faces a delisting if it goes more than three straight months without a sponsor, it noted.

According to the board, ACA had said in late June that it planned to axe its sponsorship on an inability to "demonstrate to ACA's satisfaction that it has sufficient systems, procedures, controls and resources" to meet listing rules.

ACA also could not confirm that it is not aware of any non-compliance with the Catalist rules that has not been brought to the attention of the bourse operator, the board said.

Meanwhile, Pine Capital told shareholders that the board "has been engaging the company's major shareholders and potential investors regarding potential investments and business plans of the company".

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More announcements will be made when there are material developments, it added.

Pine Capital was handed a notice of compliance by the bourse regulator in July over sole operating subsidiary Advance Capital Partners Asset Management (ACPAM).

A year before that, the company appointed an independent reviewer following allegations about a potential conflict of interest and possible lapses in internal control at ACPAM.

Trading in Pine Capital shares has been suspended since March 2019.