Shareholders of Chip Eng Seng selling 29.73% of total issued shares to SingHaiyi MD

SEVEN of Chip Eng Seng's shareholders, including founder Lim Tiam Seng and executive deputy chairman Lim Tiang Chuan, are selling shares amounting to 29.73 per cent of the total issued shares of the company to Celine Tang, the managing director of SingHaiyi.

Chip Eng Seng said in an Exchange filing on Friday evening that the shareholders had entered into a sale and purchase agreement to sell an aggregate of 186,105,000 shares at S$1.08 per share.

Lim Tiam Seng, who is also honorary chairman, will sell 60,499,000, or 77.87 per cent of his 77,697,000 shares; his brother, Lim Tiang Chuan, will sell all of his 44,177,000 shares in the company.

Lim Tian Back, brother of Lim Tiam Seng, will sell 22,003,000 of his shares; Lim Sock Joo, the wife of chief executive Raymond Chia, who is also the founder's son-in-law, will sell 10,000,000 of her shares; Lim Tian Moh, brother of Lim Tiam Seng, will sell 19,228,000 of his shares; Dawn Lim Sock Kiang, the founder's daughter, will sell 13,000,000 of her shares, and Kwek Lee Keow, the founder's wife, will sell 17,198,000 of her shares.

Chip Eng Seng shares had closed 8.9 per cent higher on Monday at 91 Singapore cents, with 5.3 million shares changing hands before the market closed. The firm halted trading of its shares before the market opened on Friday after a late Thursday rally in its stock prompted a query from the Singapore Exchange.

The Business Times reported that volume shot up after 4pm, and a total of 8.9 million shares changed hands before close.

The share price ended 5.6 per cent higher at 94.5 Singapore cents - 13.5 cents lower than the sale price in the sale and purchase agreement.

Chip Eng Seng responded to the SGX query on Friday evening, saying that it had made the announcement of the sale of shares on Friday after receiving definitive information from its shareholders on the same day.

Save for this, the company was not aware of any information not previously announced concerning the company, its subsidiaries or associated companies which might explain the unusual volume trading activity, said the firm.