Stocks to watch: Hyflux, F&N, Lippo Malls, JCG Investment, Acesian, China Mining

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

Hyflux: The beleaguered water treatment company called off Wednesday's town hall meeting on its restructuring, citing space constraints at the original venue, in an announcement late on Monday night. It will announce the new time and venue of the meeting "as soon as possible". Hyflux recently unveiled plans to tweak its debt restructuring scheme and give disgruntled retail perp and pref holders a higher recovery rate on their original investments, after they pointed accusing fingers at the minimum recovery rate promised to senior unsecured creditors.

Fraser and Neave's (F&N): The Mainboard-listed company's Times Publishing unit is taking a 60 per cent stake in a printing company, in a conditional share purchase agreement inked and disclosed on Monday. The wholly owned Times Publishing will pay S$24.48 million in cash for the stake in end-to-end printing, events and visual media solutions provider Print Lab, which will become an indirect subsidiary of F&N. F&N shares closed up two Singapore cents at S$34.98 on Monday.

Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (LMIRT): It is looking to acquire Lippo Mall Puri for 3.70 trillion rupiah (S$354.7 million), financed with a combination of debt and equity financing. It aims to complete the acquisition in the second half of 2019. Through the move, LMIRT looks to boost its assets by 19 per cent to 23.21 trillion rupiah from 19.51 trillion rupiah. It will also increase its total net lettable area (NLA) by 12.69 per cent to 1.0 million square metres (sq m), from 910,749 sq m. Its units closed down one Singapore cent at S$0.20 on Monday.

JCG Investment Holdings: It has entered into an agreement to buy 100 per cent of the issued and fully paid up ordinary shares in the capital of Brand X Lab for S$3.35 million. Brand X Lab's net asset value as at Dec 31, 2018 was S$510,863 based on unaudited accounts, and its fiscal 2018 net profit was S$374,536. The acquisition will be financed through the issuance of 1.86 billion new ordinary shares at the issue price of 0.18 Singapore cent per share, and the issuance of 310 million new unlisted warrants that can be converted into one ordinary share at an exercise price of 0.18 Singapore cent per warrant. JCG shares closed flat at S$0.002 on Monday. 

Acesian Partners: The Catalist-listed environment-control exhaust systems provider has inked a sale and purchase agreement for its Acesian Sun unit, following a memorandum of understanding on Feb 1. Under the deal with Singapore-based public transport consultancy Metro Transit Solutions, signed on Monday, Acesian Sun will be sold off for S$321,000 in cash - most of it spread out over monthly instalments. Acesian shares closed flat at S$0.016 on Monday.

China Mining International: The Mainboard-listed company has scrapped a deal to buy a Chinese pomegranate cultivator after the long-stop date for the conditional share purchase agreement was not extended. China Mining has issued a notice of termination over the planned S$37.2 million purchase of 63.11 per cent of Henan Zhongnong Huasheng Agricultural Science and Technology Co, the board said on Monday. China Mining shares closed flat at S$0.24 on Monday.

Mermaid Maritime: An associate of Mainboard-listed Mermaid Maritime has snagged a contract extension for a jack-up rig, but at "materially lower" day rates that were flagged by the company as a potential downer on earnings. The 33.76 per cent-owned associate, Asia Offshore Drilling, won a three-year extension to June 2022 for one of its three jack-up drilling rigs, in a deal with a long-term Middle East client announced on Monday. The extension is expected to add some US$80 millon to Asia Offshore Drilling's contract backlog. Mermaid Maritime shares finished down 0.1 Singapore cent at S$0.079 on Monday.

Stamford Tyres: The Mainboard-listed company ran a flat for the third quarter, with its earnings nearly wiped out on business costs and joint ventures' showings, according to unaudited results out on Monday. Net profit for the three months to Jan 31 came in at S$20,000, or 97.9 per cent lower than for the same period the year before, while revenue dropped by 14.2 per cent to S$54.1 million. Stamford Tyres shares closed flat at S$0.29 on Monday.