WBL not involved in sourcing end placees in share sale: UE

UNITED Engineers (UE) on Friday said that its subsidiary, WBL Corporation, had no part in sourcing or selecting any of the end placees in the recent share sale that drew concerns from shareholder Oxley. 

This comes after UE managing director Roy Tan on Monday said that UE's move to sell all of its treasury shares for S$56 million to undisclosed third parties last Friday was a board decision.

Mr Tan was responding to concerns raised by UE shareholder and Oxley chief executive Ching Chiat Kwong, who questioned if UE had fetched the best price possible when it sold off the 3.14 per cent stake in the company at S$2.58 per share.

In Friday's exchange filing, UE stressed that the shares were sold to independent unrelated third parties. "The end placees were independently sourced and selected by UOB Kay Hian Private Limited," the company said. "WBL Corporation Limited was not involved in the process of sourcing or selecting any of the end placees."

UE added: "The subsidiary holdings were sold at S$2.58 per stock unit which was the prevailing market price as at July 5, 2019."

Shares of UE closed down 0.38 per cent at S$2.61 on Friday before the announcement.