SINGAPORE (Jan 26): Chen Tong, executive chairman of ISR Capital, has bought shares of the company from the market for the first time on Jan 25.
This purchase has made Chen a substantial shareholder 15 months after he first invested and joined the aspiring tantalum miner.
According to ISR’s filings on Friday night, Chen bought a total of more than 246 million shares for some $1.26 million, which works out to an average of 0.512 cent per share.
He now owns a total of some 269.6 million shares. With this purchase, he lifted his stake from 0.92% to 10.51%.
Chen, who was from China but is now a Singaporean, has more than two decades of experience in the mining business.
Chen first bought into ISR Capital back in September 2016 via a placement together with three other investors.
Together, they put in $12 million at an average of 8.5 cents each. Taking into account the $4 million Chen first put into the company, he has now invested $5.2 million in ISR.
At the Jan 26 closing price of 0.6 cent, his stake in the company is worth nearly $1.62 million.
Almost right after Chen and the three other investors subscribed for the placement, ISR shares began to surge and hit as high as 33 cents on October 2016.
However, when alleged penny stock saga mastermind John Soh was arrested in November 2016, ISR shares collapsed.
According to prosecutors, besides the three penny stocks Attilan (now known as Asiasons Capital), Blumont and Liongold, Soh is alleged to have manipulated shares of ISR Capital too.
ISR’s surge back in 2016 was built on its planned transformation from a middling investment company into one that owns a tantalum concession in Madagascar.
The controversial acquisition, for 60% of the concession, was initially set at $40 million to be paid in new ISR shares at 10 cents each.
ISR tried to justify this acquisition by putting forward two valuation reports that were both similar in content and appraised price: US$1 billion.
Following repeated queries by the SGX – including a four-month long suspension – ISR’s former CEO Quah Su Yin quit. She is the sister of Quah Su Ling, who is also facing trial for her role in the penny stock saga.
Under Chen, ISR pushed ahead with the tantalum concession acquisition. It commissioned a third valuation report which gave a substantially reduced figure of US$48 million.
The acquisition terms were then revised in August 2017 from $40 million to $4.52 million, to be paid with 674.8 million new ISR shares at 0.67 cent per share.
According to a company filing on Jan 1 2018, the long stop date for the acquisition has been extended from Dec 31 2017 to Feb 28 2018.
