SINGAPORE (April 22): Abdul Wahid bin Abdul Ghani, a substantial shareholder of ISR Capital, has sold yet another tranche of shares in the company.
Like his recent disposals, the latest 20 million shares offloaded by him were off-market via a married deal to a party which the company did not name. (Amended on April 26, 2017)
Wahid sold the shares on Wednesday at 0.6 cent each, earning him gross proceeds of $120,000. With this sale, he is left with 216 million shares, or 9.33% of the company, stated the company in a Friday filing to the stock exchange.
In a separate announcement on the same day, ISR Capital notes that its share base will expand by another 225 million shares to more than 2.3 billion share with effect on Thursday. The new shares will be listed and quoted for trading starting on Monday, April 24.
The new shares came about via the conversion of an on-going redeemable convertible bond programme subscribed by Value Capital Asset Management worth up to $35 million.
As agreed under terms of the subscription agreement, VCAM has been converting the bonds into shares at 0.4 cent, or 250 million new shares for each $1 million.
Thus far, the company has raised some $3 million from VCAM.
Late last year, prosecutors have alleged that ISR shares have been manipulated by the October 2013 penny stock saga mastermind John Soh Chee Wen.
Last year, the company's shares surged by some 4,000% following a planned acquisition of a 60% stake in a rare earth concession in Madagascar. The company plans to pay for the acquisition by issuing new shares at 10 cents each.
To lend credibility to this acquisition, ISR has commissioned two valuation reports each stating that the concession is worth more than US$1 billion. However, SGX had cast doubts on the reports.
Following Soh's arrest on November 24, ISR shares have given back basically all the gains.
Executive chairman Chen Tong, who took on this job last November, has stated in the company's annual report that he is trying to push ahead with the rare earth concession, including, among other actions, looking for a third valuer.
"The Company remains deeply committed to completing the acquisition, the injection of the Madagascar concession into ISR Capital, and thereafter extracting rare earths in a responsible manner which will generate returns for our shareholders," states Chen in the company's 2016 annual report.
ISR will hold its AGM on April 28.
Year to date, its share price has dropped by nearly 95%. It closed on Friday at 0.7 cent, up 0.1 cent.
