Cedar Strategic   

It's Time Again

 This counter is not allowed to sell short !!!!


Too bad for Nick.


SGX yesterday declared Catalist-listed Jade Technologies a designated security,
prohibiting any selling of the shares unless the seller can show he holds sufficient
quantities. SGX said the condition was not applicable to shares that have been bought
on contra, adding the designation was to ensure 'orderly trading' in the market. Investors
are fearing a heavy selldown after Jade's group president Anthony Soh pulled the plug
on his takeover bid for the company on Saturday, admitting that with two-thirds of his
shares in Jade pledged to a failed Australian broker, he was no longer able to guarantee
sufficient funds were available to facilitate the offer. Dr Soh yesterday confirmed in an
interview with BT that the offer is under internal investigation by the Securities Industry
Council. The role of OCBC Bank, which quit as financial adviser to the offeror on April 1,
when the storm broke, may also be reviewed.SGX said shareholders who had accepted
the offer from Dr Soh will have their shares transferred back to their accounts today
when trading resumes. Trading has been halted since Wednesday. (BT)

 

Come on SGX! Why the double standard! Why only protect the share price of Jade?????????? There were many other counters that were shorted down after profir guidance, loss of contracts, etc. SGX should give a clearer explanation. Otherwise you might as well stop the rules of short-selling as what some other countries do!

 

i think i lack of understanding in this "contra of Jade"...although not vested, well just for knowledge - any kind soul care to elaborate slightly? thanks in advance!

(what about those who contra last week? they can't sell this week already?)

limhpp      ( Date: 07-Apr-2008 09:04) Posted: Can't contra??? Is it that those who bought today will have to sell earliest next week after payment of the shares???

 

hey, i think i miss out the whole story of beautiful jade, can anyone tell me the story in 5 sentences ?

"Merrill sold about 50% of what went through, mostly at S$0.22 a share."

how come ML still can sell at 0.22 ? wow.. good for them, now the price is not cheap enough lei... it was 0.015 last 3 years what..

 

Can't contra??? Is it that those who bought today will have to sell earliest next week after payment of the shares???

 

Business Times - 07 Apr 2008 Jade Tech now a designated stock after bid aborted Investors prohibited from selling unless they show they hold sufficient quantities By CHEW XIANG SGX yesterday declared Catalist-listed Jade Technologies a designated security, prohibiting any selling of the shares unless the seller can show he holds sufficient quantities. SGX said the condition was not applicable to shares that have been bought on contra, adding the designation was to ensure 'orderly trading' in the market. Investors are fearing a heavy selldown after Jade's group president Anthony Soh pulled the plug on his takeover bid for the company on Saturday, admitting that with two-thirds of his shares in Jade pledged to a failed Australian broker, he was no longer able to guarantee sufficient funds were available to facilitate the offer. Dr Soh yesterday confirmed in an interview with BT that the offer is under internal investigation by the Securities Industry Council. The role of OCBC Bank, which quit as financial adviser to the offeror on April 1, when the storm broke, may also be reviewed. SGX said shareholders who had accepted the offer from Dr Soh will have their shares transferred back to their accounts today when trading resumes. Trading has been halted since Wednesday. Early last month, Dr Soh made a 22.5 cents a share conditional offer for Jade, stating he owned about 46.5 per cent of the company. Last week, it emerged he had pledged two-thirds of his stake, or about 30.5 per cent of Jade's share capital, to Australian broker Opes Prime as security for margin loans. But under the agreement, ownership of the shares may already have passed to Opes and when it failed, on to its secured creditors. Dr Soh and other clients of Opes claim they believed their shares had only been pledged and that they retained beneficial interest but Opes is now known to have lent those shares to banks as security for financing. With a much smaller shareholding than thought, Dr Soh said he could not guarantee he had the extra $67 million to satisfy full acceptances of the offer. Dr Soh told BT that Opes had operated what seemed a very attractive lending regime, providing 60 per cent credit on the value of even small cap stocks. He first pledged about 140 million Jade shares last October and had drawn down the full amount of about $25 million in loans. When the price of Jade shares tanked in late January, Dr Soh pledged about 150 million more shares to make up the shortfall but did not borrow any more money. 'It was a very fluid arrangement but it came at a very heavy price.' He said he suspected Opes had been lending shares to third parties after finding out in February that about 40 million of the 295.5 million shares pledged had been moved to another account. Dr Soh visited Melbourne three times in late February and early March to confront Opes's chief executive officer Laurie Emini. 'Each time he said in front of his staff that I was the beneficiary.' Dr Soh claimed he knew of 'five to 10 other clients of Opes' in Singapore who like him had pledged shares in locally listed companies to Opes to secure financing. He is now taking part in a class action to get compensation. 'There is probably no doubt that I've lost the shares.' Dr Soh put his paper losses at about $40 million. He said that the fundamentals of Jade have not been affected, adding he was in discussions with a Chinese buyer and a big US investment bank to come in as partners in a coal mining project in Indonesia. A recent independent report included in the now withdrawn offer for Jade had put the value of the coal concession at about $1 billion

 

DJ Singapore OKs Jade Takeover Withdrawal On Opes Prime Fallout

 

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--A takeover offer for Singapore software firm Jade Technologies Holdings Ltd. (530.SG) has been withdrawn after financing for the deal from troubled Australian broker Opes Prime Group Ltd. fell apart.

In a filing to the Singapore Exchange Saturday, Jade's board said the Securities Industry Council agreed to let President Anthony Soh withdraw his S$0.225-a-share offer, which valued the firm he manages at S$218 million ($158 million).

"The board understands from the council that the council has consented to the offeror withdrawing the offer, and the offer is withdrawn with immediate effect," the filing said.

Jade said Soh needs S$67 million to complete the deal, but he asked the SIC for permission to withdraw it because he is unable to secure the funds.

The SIC couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.

Soh had placed 295 million of his Jade Shares with Opes Prime to back a loan, but earlier this week said he may not have resources to complete the offer after the broker was put into receivership.

Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER) and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ.AU), Opes Prime's main creditors, last week began selling shares in various companies that the broker had pledged to them.

A person familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires that Merrill Lynch sold about 100 million Jade shares Tuesday, likely in a move to unload collateral pledged by Opes Prime.

The average daily trading volume for Jade is only a few million shares, but turnover surged after the Opes Prime meltdown became public, with 54 million shares traded on March 31 and 196 million on April 1.

Merrill Lynch said Friday that it no longer has any exposure to Opes Prime, and it has sold all shares received from the broker.

Apart from the 295 million Jade shares pledged to Opes Prime, Soh continues to hold 156 million shares representing 16% of Jade.

It's unclear how many of the 295 million Jade shares wound up with Merrill Lynch and ANZ.

Jade shares have been halted since Tuesday, when they last traded at S$0.20 each.

Soh's offer had been scheduled to close on April 7.

 

DJ Merrill Sold Large Volume Of Jade Tech Shares Tues - Source

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER) sold about 100 million Jade Technologies Holdings Ltd. (530.SG) shares Tuesday, likely in a move to unload collateral pledged to it by troubled Australian broker Opes Prime Group Ltd., a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

The sale could be a blow to Jade President Anthony Soh, who had placed 295 million shares with Opes Prime to back a loan taken to fund his takeover of the Singapore-listed software company.

"The daily volume for Jade is usually a few million shares, but Tuesday it was around 196 million," the person told Dow Jones Newswires.

"Merrill sold about 50% of what went through, mostly at S$0.22 a share."

Soh Wednesday said he may not have sufficient resources to complete the S$0.225-a-share offer after Opes Prime was put into receivership with A$1 billion ($918 million) owed to creditors.

Apart from the 295 million shares, Soh continues to hold 156 million shares representing 16% of Jade, which he manages.

Merrill Lynch and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. last week began selling shares that Opes Prime had pledged to them.

It's unclear how many of the 295 million shares wound up with Merrill Lynch and ANZ.

Merrill Lynch said Friday that it no longer has any exposure to Opes Prime as it has sold the shares received from the broker.

Merrill Lynch couldn't be reached for comment about the Jade share sale.

Jade last traded at S$0.22 Tuesday before trade was halted.

 

The Straits Times this morning reported Jade price set to plunge

 

it is a matter of time, whether it is a sharp plunge or a slow painful death...

zhuge_liang      ( Date: 06-Apr-2008 23:04) Posted: SGX has banned sales of Jade shares unless you hold them. Meaning you can't short sell and sell on contra basis.

 

In business, money to roll over is very important, this time and every time, it has been very hard hit by very badly timing on this trying period and a very, very big risk, sort of no margin call. sign of a single digit is coming......very Jaded.

 

SGX has banned sales of Jade shares unless you hold them. Meaning you can't short sell and sell on contra basis.

 

Gone case

 

Anthony Soh has withdrawn his offer for Jade.

 

I think this trading halt will have to last for 2 weeks or the time taken to transfer back all the stocks back to the respect holder.  If not, it will be very unfair to those that have accepted the offer.

What is OCBC doing....did not do DD......WOW....standards have dropped.....

 

 

Financial Services
Doctor in distress over broken promises
Katrina Nicholas
199 words
4 April 2008
Australian Financial Review (Abstracts)
73
English
Copyright 2008 Media Monitors Australia Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved


The Opes Prime collapse has resulted in a loss of at least S$40 million
($31.8 million) for Singapore-based physician turned businessman Anthony
Soh. Opes Prime was providing Mr Soh with funding to achieve a takeover of
software engineering firm Jade Technologies via Asia Pacific Links, a
company of which Mr Soh is the sole shareholder and which already owned a
significant stake in Jade. Dr Soh said he was misled by Opes Prime
subsidiary Opes Prime Asset Management, who had convinced him that he had
legal title to 295 million shares in Jade, after an agreement made last
October. It was understood that Opes pledged Mr Soh's shares to lender
Merrill Lynch, and others. Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation
was also financing the deal but it withdrew its backing yesterday. As Mr
Soh did not control as many shares in Jade as he thought, Asia Pacific
Links will not be able to meet the minimum 50 percent acceptance condition.


Number of Mentions in original article: Opes Prime, Anthony Soh, Jade
Technologies, Asia Pacific Links, Opes Prime Asset Management, Merrill
Lynch, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation

 

Don't panic, read carefully, according to what I find out with my dealer and his declaration in SGX, he did not sell E3. He just transfer, there is different of sell and transfer, good luck. He is consider unlucky where he use Jade stocks as collaborator to get from the bank, but unfortunate that one went bankrupt. Take care and watch carefully on E3. what done cannot be undone, what loss cannot be recovered, but E3 is still safe !

 

Anthony Soh has been selling millions of E3 shares. He could possibly also sell shares from other companies he holds to raise cash to buy the 30.47% stake. Just my thought.

 

By R SIVANITHY, BT 

JUST a week ago, things looked pretty straightforward for anyone who bought shares of Catalist-listed Jade Technologies.

The company's major shareholder and director Anthony Soh had offered 22.5 cents a share for the 53.5 per cent of Jade he did not own via his investment vehicle Asia Pacific Links (APL). And since the letter to shareholders - prepared by financial adviser OCBC Bank - said the offer would become unconditional if APL obtained control of at least 50 per cent of Jade, everyone assumed it would be a done deal since Dr Soh already held 46.5 per cent.

One week later, it looks like the takeover could be called off. Shareholders have been shocked by news that APL had pledged shares representing about 30.47 per cent of Jade to Australian stockbroker Opes Prime for financing - a deal that has surfaced only now because Opes has been declared bankrupt.

As a result, the ownership of the 30.47 per cent of Jade is in dispute. The shares have been seized by Opes's official receiver in Australia, which means APL may own just 16.06 per cent of Jade and not the 46.5 per cent stated in the takeover offer.

If so, Dr Soh said in a letter to Jade on Tuesday, APL may not have sufficient resources to complete the takeover. If this is confirmed and the deal is called off, Jade's shares could crash back to where they were before their pre-take- over run-up - possibly around 10 cents.

This is the grim scenario that confronts Jade shareholders. So, understandably, they are anxious to have their questions answered as quickly as possible.

Not helping matters is news that OCBC has resigned as Jade's takeover adviser and that APL is looking for a replacement.

First - and perhaps most important - why did OCBC resign? Can a financial adviser resign or is there some sort of obligation - moral, fiduciary or otherwise - to stay the course, even if problems arise?

A worried Jade shareholder told BT: 'When I saw it was a solid name like OCBC and not a smaller, lesser-known company doing the deal, it gave me confidence to accept the offer. How can they just walk away like this and leave us hanging?'

Second, does the pledging of a large portion of Jade's shares to a third party in a foreign country constitute material information that should have been disclosed in the March 8 letter to shareholders? Was OCBC aware of this pledge in the first place?

Third, what rights do shareholders have if they have relied on an offer document that may have been inaccurate or incomplete?

The sentence relating to Dr Soh's presumed ownership of 46.5 per cent on March 8 read: 'At the latest practicable date, the offeror (APL) and parties acting in concert with it hold 451,272,504 shares, representing 46.55 per cent of the shares.'

Most shareholders would have assumed that 'hold' means 'own'. According to Dr Soh, he too believed he still owned the shares. Problem is, no one knows if this is the case. Much hinges on whether legally it is actually the case, or whether pledged shares can be seized by a receiver if the financier goes under.

Fourth, did the market somehow get wind of Opes's bankruptcy and Jade's involvement ahead of Tuesday, which is when Jade first made an announcement on the matter? If so, could the announcement have been made earlier?

Trading in Jade's shares progressively surged last week - from only 686,000 on Wednesday to 1.46 million on Thursday, 15.9 million on Friday and 55 million on Monday this week to a whopping 196 million on Tuesday before trading was halted. Since the first news reports of Opes's problems appeared in Australian newspapers last Friday, it looked very much like the market knew something was brewing. So why was no announcement made last Friday, or even on Monday?

As things stand now, the deal looks like being scuttled unless a competing bidder can be found - one who sees the same value in Jade as Dr Soh did. This may not be easy.

Recall that one of the reasons for the takeover offer was that Dr Soh had confidence in Jade's potentially lucrative coal mining concession in Indonesia.

However, in a report to Jade's independent directors, independent adviser CIMB-GK warned: 'There is, however, no assurance that the company will be able to execute the mining services agreement effectively.' It cited Jade's lack of a track record in coal mining and the need for sufficient funding.

All told, it is clear that most of the grey areas surrounding this convoluted saga hinge on legal questions that few people are equipped to answer - at least authoritatively.

Still, let's hope the relevant parties act swiftly to shed light on what has become one of the most controversial takeover bids in local corporate history.

 

As a result, did you notice that Armada shot up from 0.95c to close at 12.5c. Hopefully, there is good news and consequently can raise similar stock like Baker Tech and others mini-stocks to exciting levels. Not vested.