Published February 10, 2009

Investment company Ariel goes belly up

Creditors' meeting slated for firm with a string of investment forays

By CHEW XIANG

	Email this article
	Print article
	Feedback

(SINGAPORE) A private investment vehicle linked to investor Low Shiong Jin which took hefty stakes in listed companies such as Oculus, Enzer Corp, SNF Corp and China Yongsheng is going bust.

Mr Low: Ariel director was formerly exec director of Oculus and Enzer

The investment vehicle, Ariel Singapore, appointed provisional liquidators on Friday, according to advertisements taken out that day.

Ariel referred to a statutory declaration made by Mr Low a week previously that the company 'cannot by reason of its liabilities continue its business'. A meeting of creditors is due on Feb 27.

Mr Low, a director of Ariel, was formerly executive director at Oculus and Enzer, and had been a director and chief executive officer of SNF Corp.

Ariel did not disclose details but it was the target of at least three legal suits in the past two years. Mr Low himself is facing committal proceedings after Ariel failed to complete an investment reportedly worth about S$3 million in a company called PJ Services, also partly owned by Oculus.

The vendor company, PJ Holdings, secured a court order last year requiring that the investment be completed but this was not done.

It is not known how the committal proceedings, which if carried through could mean prison or a fine, would be affected if Ariel is liquidated.

Last December, the company settled a claim for breach of employment contract with one Lam Chee Seng, who had claimed for over S$275,000. Ariel is also said to owe US$1.8 million from a judgment in Hong Kong late last year.

Mr Low came to prominence in 2004 when Ariel Singapore injected S$1 million into a loss-making precision engineering firm, Ho Wah Genting International, to prevent it from being wound up.

Ho Wah changed its name to Global Ariel, and in 2007, went through a reverse takeover, acquiring China-based concrete manufacturer Assetgold Finance. Global Ariel renamed itself China Yongsheng last August.

In 2007, Mr Low and Ariel were behind an attempt to oust five directors of electronics distributor SNF Corp. The five were eventually voted out in November that year and a new board led by Mr Low took control.

He quit just five months later, in April 2008, after Oculus said that Ariel Singapore had used S$15 million of Oculus's trust money for its own investments. Mr Low was allegedly the only director who knew about the missing trust monies.

Half was later repaid and the remaining debt was settled after Advance Assets Management, an investment vehicle of Indonesian businessman Edwin Sugiarto, agreed to buy Oculus shares seized from Ariel Singapore at well above its then market value.

Last December, Oculus lodged a report with the Commercial Affairs Department, saying that 'there are grounds to believe' an unnamed former director 'may have breached his fiduciary duties to the company under the provisions of the Companies Act'.