Apollo Aquaculture judicial managers in talks with investors; operating subsidiary not under administration

THE judicial managers of Apollo Aquaculture Group (AAG) on Saturday (Feb 4) said they are in talks with some investors to rehabilitate the group, and its operating subsidiary, Apollo Aquarium, is not under any form of administration.

Tan Wei Cheong and Lim Loo Khoon of professional services company Deloitte & Touche were appointed as judicial managers of AAG.

AAG was placed under interim judicial management on Mar 17, 2022, and subsequently under judicial management on May 4, 2022, Tan said.

Following the judicial managers’ appointment, Tan said they had “received several interests from potential investors”.  

“The judicial managers are currently in discussions with a few of these investors who have expressed further interest to work with the company to rehabilitate the group,” he added.

The company has no operations besides its investments in its subsidiaries, he said.  

Temasek-backed fish farm Apollo Aquarium was reported in 2021 to be building a S$65 million multi-storey fish farming facility, which had been developed by state-owned consultancy Surbana Jurong. It was to have started operations in the first quarter of 2021, and achieve a total annual output capacity of 2,700 tonnes of fish by 2023.

The Neo Tiew Crescent facility covered 55,214 square metres of gross floor area, according to an October 2021 report by Surbana.

Late last year, Apollo Aquarium sold out its remaining fish stock, but temporarily stopped bringing in new batches of fingerlings to grow, Tan added.

This was in view that potential investors may have plans to grow other types of food fish, which could be different from what Apollo Aquarium was growing, he said. 

Based on Acra data, Apollo’s largest shareholder is Ng Yong Hock Capital. It held 43.3 million shares in the company as at May 18, 2020.

The company has 78.6 million shares in issue, of which 52.6 million are ordinary shares and 26 million are preference shares.

The second-largest shareholder is TLS Beta, which holds all the preference shares and whose beneficial owner is Temasek-owned Fullerton Management, according to a US filing.

According to the Acra filing, TLS Beta’s issued shares represented issued capital of S$35 million. The ordinary shares represented issued capital of S$21.2 million.

Apollo’s current directors are Phua Bo Wen, Yeo Yeow Hwee and Ng Chuen Guan. Ng owns 2.9 million shares of Apollo.