Dubious IPCO family

Author: kimeng   |   Publish date: Tue, 24 Sep11:42 So far, we have unearthed the complex web of dealings between four SGX-listed companies ? IPCO International Ltd, Blumont Blumont Group Ltd (formerly known as Adroit Innovations Ltd), Innopac Holdings Ltd (formerly known as Inno-Pacific Holdings Ltd), and Magnus Energy Group Ltd.Here is our detailed story on the web of these companies.IPCO and Innopac have not responded to numerous requests for comment.But there are five other companies in this network.These five companies are Annica Holdings Ltd (formerly known as Oculus Ltd), LionGold Corp Ltd (formerly known as The Think Environmental Co Ltd and before that as Asia Tiger Group Ltd), Chaswood Resources Holdings Ltd (formerly known as Asia Silk Holdings Ltd), Asiasons Capital Ltd (formerly known as Integra2000 Ltd), and ITE Electric Co Ltd.Most of the relationships are visible in the shareholdings patterns of these companies.LionGold Corp Ltd?s notable shareholders are: Asiasons Capital Ltd (7.21%), Forte Services Ltd (3.51%), Whitefield Management Ltd (2.46), G1 Investments Pte Ltd (2.45%), Magnus Energy Group Ltd (1.88%), and ITE Assets Holdings Pte Ltd (1.40%).Tan Sri Dato? Nik Ibrahim Kamil Bin Nik Ahmad Kamil is the man behind Forte Services Ltd (refer page 4 of ASX-listed Signature Metals Ltd?s January 20, 2012 announcement).Dato? Nik Ibrahim is also the Executive Chairman and CEO of LionGold Corp.As we have already mentioned, Whitefield Management Ltd, a British Virgin Islands Company, belongs to Mr Idris Bin Abdullah, who is a lawyer based in Malaysia (refer Asia Tiger Group?s August 13, 2007announcement).And those who have read our story on IPCO would recall that G1 Investments Pte Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blumont Group Ltd.And yes, ITE Assets Holdings Pte Ltd is a subsidiary of ITE Electric Co Ltd.Moving on, Asiasons Capital Ltd?s notable shareholders are: Asiasons Investment Managers Inc (39.96%), Porterhouse Capital Ltd (11.37%), Mohammed Azlan Bin Hashim (3.93%), and Friendship Bridge Holding Company Pte Ltd (2.99%).Dato? Mohammed Azlan Bin Hashim is the man behind Asiasons Investment Managers Inc and Porterhouse Capital Ltd (refer Asiasons Capital Ltd?s October 9, 2012announcement).Dato? Azlan has been a Director ofMalaysia?s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional since June 1, 2004.Friendship Bridge Holding Co Pte Ltd is also a shareholder of Innopac Ltd and Blumont Group Ltd.So far, we know the companies and people behind LionGold Corp and Asiasons Capital.Now, let us focus on Chaswood Resources Holdings Ltd.Its notable shareholders are: Posh Corridor Sdn Bhd (62.37%), Reddy Andrew Roach (22.95%), and Sugiarto Edwin (1.10%).Surprisingly, Asiasons Capital Ltd, via its various subsidiaries, is the controlling shareholder of Posh Corridor Sdn Bhd (refer Asiasons WFG Financial Ltd?s December 2, 2010 announcement).Another important shareholder of Chaswood is Sugiarto Edwin who is also the largest shareholder and Chairman of Annica Holdings Ltd.Next in the line-up is ITE Electric Co Ltd.Its notable shareholders are: Ho Cheng Leong (16.58%), Chee Suwen (6.40%), Sim Chee Keong (4.68%), Li Hua (4.63%), and G1 Investments Pte Ltd (1.35%).Ho Cheng Leong is the CEO of ITE Electric Co Ltd.He was also one of the placees in Annica Holdings? placement of 210 mln shares in April 2012 (refer Annica Holdings? April 9, 2012 announcement).Also, he was allotted 40 mln shares by IPCO International in a placement exercise inJanuary 2008 (refer IPCO?s January 8, 2008 announcement).Finally, Annica Holdings Ltd?s notable shareholders are: Sugiarto Edwin (8.25%), and Tan Cheng Guan (1.06%).Edwin Sugiarto is an Indonesian businessman with diversified business interests.He is the Chairman of Annica Holdings and has also served as non-executive Chairman of Asia Silk Holdings Limited (now known as Chaswood Resources Holdings Ltd).Just like Ho Cheng Leong, though on a different occasion, Mr Sugiarto was also allotted 62.5 mln shares by IPCO International in a placement exercise in November 2010 (refer IPCO?s November 11, 2010 announcement).In May last year, Mr Sugiarto was fined by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a delay in notifying the market of a change of interest in Annica Holdings Ltd (MAS? press release).Apart from cross-shareholdings, all these companies and/or promoters have had numerous business dealings among themselves.For instance, Neo Kim Hock, the Chairman and largest shareholder of Blumont, bought20 mln shares in Annica Holdings in December 2010 (refer Annica Holdings?December 8, 2010 announcement).Similarly, Annica Holdings bought Nu-Haven Incorporated, a shelf-company in British Virgin Islands, in 2008 (refer Annica Holdings? July 23, 2008 announcement).Later, Nu-Haven Incorporated emerged as a shareholder of Innopac and Blumont (refer Handshakes map in our earlier story on IPCO dated February 1, 2013).So, IPCO, Innopac, Blumont, Magnus Energy, Annica Holdings, Asiasons Capital, Chaswood Resources, LionGold Corp, and ITE Electric are different companies belonging to a common set of people.But let us step back to look at the bigger picture.Dato? Mohammed Azlan Bin Hashim, the man behind Asiasons, seems to be at the helm of this web of nine SGX-listed companies.Any reasonable investor would wonder if Dato? Azlan?s affiliation with Khazana Nasional has any bearing on the various dealings (mostly loss-making) among these companies.At the same time, the recent placement of majority stake in IPCO International to Dato? Mohd Zaid Ibrahim, the former Law Minister of Malaysia, complicates the picture.What could be the motivation for such a complex web of companies, shareholdings and cross-shareholdings?