Stocks to watch: Courts Asia, ESR-Reit, OUE Lippo Healthcare Limited, Chaswood, GS Holdings

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their shares on Friday:

Courts Asia: A unit of Japanese electronics retailer Nojima Corp is making a conditional cash offer for Courts Asia at S$0.205 per share as it seeks to gain a strong foothold in South-east Asia. The offer price represents a premium of about 35 per cent above the closing price on Jan 16, and a premium of about 36.1 per cent, 34.3 per cent and 23.3 per cent above the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) per share for the one-month, three-month and six-month period respectively. Shares in Courts closed at 15.2 Singapore cents on Thursday. The company called for a trading halt before market open on Friday.

ESR-Reit: ESR-Reit posted a distribution per unit of 1.005 Singapore cents for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018, up 8.2 per cent year on year. This is ESR-Reit's first set of financial results after it completed its merger with Viva Industrial Trust (VIT) on  Oct 15, 2018. VIT's revenue and expenses from Oct 16, 2018, to Dec 31, 2018, have been included in the group's results. ESR-Reit said gross revenue for the quarter more than doubled from S$27.2 million to S$58.4 million, while net property income (NPI) rose from S$19.9 million to S$42.3 million. The total amount available for distribution to unitholders came to S$29.3 million, up from S$12.2 million a year ago. 

OUE Lippo Healthcare Limited: It announced after trading hours on Thursday that it has obtained a final arbitration award against individual David Lin Kao Kun in Singapore. The tribunal ordered Mr Lin to pay the aggregate sum of 58.8 million yuan, US$32.8 million and S$842,822.66 to the company, as well as interest at the rate of 5.33 per cent per annum from the date of award to the date of full payment. The company's shares closed flat on Thursday at S$0.068.

Chaswood Resources Holdings: The restaurant operator announced after trading hours on Thursday that it has received a statutory demand of payment from solicitors representing the interim judicial managers of TAP Venture Fund I (TVF) on Jan 16, seeking payment of S$3 million within 21 days. Upon the expiry of the 21 days, TVF is entitled to file a petition to wind up the company in court. The payment is in relation to the corporate guarantee provided by the company for the subscription by TVF of the redeemable exchangeable bonds issued by Chaswood Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, over three tranches. The company's shares last closed on Feb 28, 2018, at S$0.009, up 0.2 Singapore cent.

GS Holdings: The centralised dishwasher firm announced that it has entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with individual Zhang Li Ying to expand into the food and beverage (F&B) business. The JV, known as Wish Hospitality Holdings, has an existing issued and paid-up share capital of S$100 comprising 100 ordinary shares. The JV company will principally be engaged in the procurement and management of F&B business, distribution, wholesale, trading, retail, import and export of food products and equipment, and the provision of other related products and services. GS Holdings shares last traded flat at S$0.24 on Jan 7.

AGV Group: The hot dip galvanising services company is seeking an extension of two months for its annual general meeting for FY2018 to be held by March 31 instead of Jan 31 as the company's auditors need more time to finalise and issue their audit report. In a filing with the Singapore Exchange, the company said that its auditors had just commenced fieldwork, which had "taken longer than expected to complete due to the major time loss from the December holiday period". The company's shares last traded on Jan 9 at S$0.021, down 0.4 Singapore cent.

Keppel Corporation: Its asset management arm, Keppel Capital Holdings, said its private fund management arm Alpha Investment Partners has announced the final closing of the Alpha Asia Macro Trends Fund (AAMTF) III, having raised a total of about US$1.1 billion, including co-investments, exceeding its initial target of US$1 billion. AAMTF III, the third value-add pan-Asian fund in the Alpha Asia Macro Trends series, saw a diverse group of institutional investors, including pension funds, endowments and insurance companies. Launched in 2007, the series focuses on "mega trends driving long-term growth in Asia-Pacific", which include urbanisation, growing consumerism and intra-regional tourism. Keppel Corp shares closed on Thursday three Singapore cents up at S$6.27.