Stocks to watch: Albedo, Jason, Lippo Malls, Raffles Education

THE following stocks had announcements that could affect trading activity on Friday:

Steel trader Albedo has agreed to acquire a majority stake in a Taiwanese aesthetic medicine group. Under a conditional agreement inked on Thursday, Albedo agreed to buy a 51 per cent stake in China iMyth Co from China Medical Investments Co (CMIC) for S$18.9 million. Albedo shares last traded at 1.3 Singapore cents on June 8.

The remaining 49 per cent of Singapore-incorporated China iMyth is owned by Taiwanese plastic surgeon Chung Yih-Chen, who is also its managing director.

Jason Holdings said its chairman and chief executive, Jason Sim, has reached a deal with a creditor to avert a default on a loan for which 10 million of his shares had been pledged as collateral. Jason shares closed at 64 Singapore cents on Thursday.

Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (LMIRT) has received commitments from BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered for a S$260 million, 54-month term loan. Proceeds from the loan will be used to refinance S$200 million of bonds that will be due in July, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. LMIRT units ended Thursday at 36.5 Singapore cents.

Raffles Education Corp's 75 per cent subsidiary Oriental University City Holdings (HK) is undertaking a A$5.2 million (S$5.4 million) investment in Australian real estate developer Axiom Properties, the school operator and developer announced early Friday.

Oriental University has already bought a 14.9 per cent stake in Axiom through a married deal for A$3.678 million in cash, or 6 Australian cents per share. That represents a 3.2 per cent discount to Axiom's Thursday closing price of 6.2 Australian cents.

Oriental University will subscribe for another A$1.54 million of new Axiom shares that will raise its stake to 19.9 per cent. The price of the new shares will also be 6 Australian cents per share. The subscription is expected to be completed by Nov 30. Raffles Education shares closed at 31 Singapore cents on Thursday.