SGX RegCo issues 'trade with caution' alert on LS 2 Holdings

THE Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) had on Thursday (Feb 24) issued a "trade with caution" alert on newly listed cleaning services company LS 2 Holdings, and is reviewing trades in the company's shares.

This comes after LS 2 Holdings had on the same day ended its trading debut on the Singapore Exchange's Catalist board at S$0.88, up 340 per cent from its initial public offering (IPO) price of S$0.20. The stock also rose to hit an intraday high of S$1.60.

This was in contrast to the Straits Times Index's performance which fell 116.94 points or 3.5 per cent on the same day, SGX RegCo pointed out.

According to Catalist rules, a proportion of post invitation share capital in public hands must be at least 15 per cent at the time of listing and the number of public shareholders must be at least 200.

The overall distribution of shareholdings should be expected to provide an orderly secondary market in the security, said SGX RegCo.

The bourse watchdog noted that out of 207 placees, 166 sold their entire allotment, which significantly reduced the distribution.

Majority of these accounts are connected through a common trading representative and the selling was concentrated within the first hour of trading, according to SGX RegCo.

It added that it will continue to monitor the trades in LS 2 shares and will take the necessary actions including looking into the placement, reviewing the activity and referring the matter to statutory authorities where warranted.