Published August 29, 2009

Oei divests deemed UET interest

His foundation and Novena Holdings had bought 66.3m shares in May

By CHEW XIANG

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TYCOON Oei Hong Leong has sold his deemed interest in 69.9 million shares in Chinese water company United Envirotech (UET), according to regulatory filings. The stake represents 17.6 per cent of the company.

MR OEI Has an interest in Novena Holdings through his foundation

A company announcement said the change of interest occurred on Aug 25. But according to Bloomberg data, just under 20 million shares changed hands on that day.

Mr Oei likely sold the shares at a loss. Oei Hong Leong Foundation and Novena Holdings bought 66.3 million shares at 21 cents apiece in May. Mr Oei, through his foundation, has an interest in Novena Holdings. UET's share price has averaged 17.66 cents over the past week or so.

One buyer is UET non-executive director Andy Lim, who was appointed in July. He now has a deemed interest in 53.4 million UET shares or 13.4 per cent of the company. UET said this was due to a purchase of 45,000,000 Novena Holdings shares via a married deal on Aug 25.

In its financial year to March 31, UET's revenue was $42.9 million, a 16.3 per cent fall from $51.2 million a year back. Its engineering business dropped 25 per cent, but this was partly offset by a 30 per cent increase in the wastewater treatment business. Profit after tax was $3.7 million, down from $8.5 million previously.

UET shares are the subject of a High Court lawsuit. The Monetary Authority of Singapore is suing Tan Chong Koay and his Malaysian fund Pheim Asset Management for alleged false trading in UET shares in December 2004.

Justice Lai Siu Chiu heard evidence yesterday from former UOB Kay Hian broker Tang Boon Siah, who said he received 'discretion' orders from Pheim Malaysia to buy about $100,000 of UET shares on Dec 29, 30 and 31, 2004 and filled these orders slowly, and mostly at the end of each trading day, because the stock was illiquid.

Examined by Pheim's lawyer Foo Maw Shen of Rodyk & Davidson, Mr Tang said he mostly lifted offers from the sell queue and waited as long as he could between trades so prospective sellers might appear. Even then he was unable to completely fill the order, but the price changes on each trading day did not exceed 20 per cent, he said.

Mr Tang said he kept in frequent telephone contact with Mr Tan on Dec 30 and 31, 2004 to update the latter on the status of the market. Mr Tan is represented in the case by Senior Counsel Michael Hwang.

MAS, represented by Senior Counsel Cavinder Bull of Drew & Napier, alleges Mr Tan and Pheim created a false market in UET shares by their purchases, especially when timed so close to the end of the year. The purchases were also made mostly at the end of each trading day.

The purchases caused the share price to close significantly higher and created a false and misleading appearance in the market, Mr Bull argued. This contravened Section 197(1)(b) of the Securities and Futures Act, he said.

Mr Tan and Pheim deny the accusations, saying the purchases were legitimate commercial transactions. Former HSBC Securities managing director Christopher Chong is expected to take the stand as an MAS expert witness on Monday when the hearing resumes. The defendants have called Nels Radley Friets - chairman of the Singapore Exchange and Catalist disciplinary committees, but appearing in his private capacity as their expert witness.