Stocks to watch: LTC Corp, SembMarine, ST Engineering, IPS Securex, Midas Holdings

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

LTC Corp: The steel trading and property group announced on Wednesday that trading in its shares is expected to be suspended at 9.00am on Feb 1, 2019, as an exit offer for the company passed the 90 per cent threshold. Mountbatten Resources Pte Ltd - the investment vehicle for LTC's controlling Cheng family - now owns, controls or has agreed to acquire shares representing 90.01 per cent of the company as at 5pm on Jan 15. LTC Corp shares last traded flat at S$0.92 on Jan 7.

Sembcorp Marine: The company's subsidiaries Sembcorp Marine Repairs and Upgrades, and Semb-Eco on Tuesday entered into a share swap agreement with Ecospec Global Technology and their shareholders Chee Hwee Hong and Neonlite Investments. Some 10 million shares representing 20 per cent of the issued share capital of Ecospec Global Technology will be exchanged for 23.8 million shares representing 45 per cent of the issued share capital of Semb-Eco. Its shares closed at S$1.60 on Tuesday, up 1 Singapore cent.

ST Engineering: The integrated defense and engineering company announced after trading hours on Tuesday that its aerospace arm secured new contracts worth S$450 million in the fourth quarter of 2018 for services including maintenance and modification for wide-ranging aircraft parts from the airframe to components. This brings the total value of the contracts to S$2.06 billion for 2018. ST Engineering shares last closed on Tuesday up 3 Singapore cents at S$3.61.

IPS Securex Holdings: The company announced on Tuesday that it has received a letter of acceptance (LOA) from an undisclosed government agency in South-east Asia for a contract worth S$19.1 million. Of the S$19.1 million, up to S$10.1 million is for IPS to supply, deliver, install, commission and test an integrated security solution (System A) and provide maintenance support services for seven years for System A following its complete implementation, as well as other System A support and professional services. Its shares last traded at 5 Singapore cents on Tuesday, down 0.5 Singapore cents.

Midas Holdings: The judicial manager of the principal operating subsidiary of troubled railway parts maker Midas Holdings is trying to sell its assets without the group's consent. According to a report seen by the group dated Jan 5, Jindou Investment Holding Group (Jindou Group) had signed an agreement with Jilin Province Qiming Bankruptcy Liquidation Co, the judicial manager of Jilin Midas, to acquire Jilin Midas's assets for 1.76 billion yuan (S$352 million) on Dec 30, 2018. Midas shares last traded on Feb 7, 2018, down 0.5 Singapore cents at S$0.192.