Singapore Corporate News - 2 Oct 2007

JEL calls off deal to buy 17% stake in mDR

JEL Corporation, a mainboard-listed distributor of consumer goods, has called off its proposed acquisition of a 17 per cent stake in after-market services provider mDR Ltd, which is also listed on the mainboard.

The news comes in the wake of an announcement last Friday that JEL was being investigated by white collar crime busters, the Commercial Affairs Department.

JEL, whose shares were suspended by the Singapore Exchange pending the review of its financial affairs, said in a brief statement yesterday: 'Further to the company's announcement dated Sept 4, 2007, the company wishes to announce that the company and mDR have reviewed the matter and have mutually agreed to terminate all agreements relating to the proposed strategic alliance between the company and mDR, with effect from Sept 30, 2007.'

Under an agreement in April, JEL would swap 52 per cent in its subsidiary JEL Corp (Africa) for 17 per cent of mDR which was undergoing a restructuring following its own misadventures with the law when it was known as Accord Customer Care Solutions.

The agreement also included an extension of a $4 million convertible loan by JEL to mDR. JEL was also given an option, for the period of 24 months after the completion of the agreements, to increase its stake in mDR through the issue of new mDR shares to JEL.

Bio-Treat gets new major shareholder

BIO-TREAT Technology, the water-treatment firm that has been caught up in a controversy involving its former chairman, has a new major shareholder.

In a filing with the stock exchange after trading ended yesterday, the firm Precious Wise Group Ltd had bought 262.5 million Bio-Treat shares at 87.4 cents each in an off-market transaction, giving it a 29.6 per cent direct stake. The date of change of interest was given as last Friday.

Swiber Hldgs to sell and lease back five vessels

SWIBER Holdings, an offshore engineering company, has entered into sale-and-leaseback arrangements for five vessels that will bring in total proceeds of US$95 million, to be used to acquire new vessels for future expansion, the company said yesterday.

The vessels consist of a pipe-laying barge, which will be bought by Tioman Offshore AS, as well as two anchor handling towing (AHT) vessels and two anchor handling towing and supply (AHTS) vessels, to be bought by Sentosa Offshore AS. The pipe-laying barge is currently being refurbished, while one AHT and the two AHTS vessels are still under construction.

For each transaction, the payment involves a 20 per cent downpayment with the balance payable upon delivery of the vessels, estimated to take place between next month and August 2009.

The buyers are companies established by RS Platou Finans Shipping AS, a major ship-leasing arranger in Norway, Swiber said. The vessels will be leased back to Swiber Offshore Marine, a subsidiary of Swiber, on bareboat charter for a period of eight to 10 years.

Swiber said the total proceeds from the transaction will be US$33 million more than the vessels' book value of US$62 million.

The book value of the vessels, including estimated completion costs of construction, is about 105.2 per cent of the group's net asset value of US$58.9 million, and the consideration is about 10 per cent of the group's market capitalisation of over US$950 million.

Portek wins $25m worth of contracts from various ports

PORTEK International has won $25 million worth of engineering contracts from various ports around the world, it said yesterday.

The company, which provides equipment services and solutions to the port industry and operates medium-sized ports, said the locations included Latin America, South-east Asia, Europe, Middle East and North Africa. Its shares ended 2.5 cents or 5.8 per cent higher at 45.5 cents yesterday, after the mid-day announcement.

In Mexico, it won a contract to modify and relocate two container cranes from Colon, Panama, on the Atlantic Ocean to Manzanillo, Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean.

The company also secured repeat orders from other parts of Latin America - in Buenaventura, Colombia and the Caribbean - for crane repairs and modification. Portek said it has carried out various crane repair jobs in these two countries over the past two years.

In the Philippines, the company has won an order in Manila to supply shipyard equipment comprising straddle carriers and fork-lifts. It has also won a crane revamping job in Manila.

Other contracts it recently won in South-east Asia include an accident repair order in Thailand, a crane accident recovery and repair contract in Indonesia and a crane survey and consultancy contract in Malaysia.

In Europe, it secured an order from a subsidiary of PSA for the relocation of a container crane from Singapore to Portugal.

In the Middle East, Portek won a contract from a terminal operator group to provide consultancy and supervision services for the manufacturing of new container cranes for delivery to Damietta, Egypt. The company will also conduct acceptance tests on the cranes on behalf of the port owner.

In Algeria, Portek has been engaged by its 49 per cent-owned terminal operations company, Bejaia Mediterranean Terminal (BMT) to provide crane services valued at about US$1.8 million. The Portek group is expected to recognise 51 per cent of the value of the contracts with BMT as revenue, it said.