The news came as a surprise: This month a Singapore-registered company bid to buy Newcastle United Football Club in the U.K.
The company in question, Bellagraph Nova (BN) Group, has since come under increased scrutiny.
First, it admitted to photoshopping marketing photos with former U.S. President Barack Obama. And now, Axington Inc., a tax-services firm listed in Singapore that’s controlled by two of BN Group’s founders, halted trading after a 14% plunge Tuesday on a report that the regulatory arm of the city-state’s bourse recommended an investigation into the suitability of its board of directors. The third BN Group founder, Evangeline Shen, serves as a non-independent, non-executive chairman at Axington.
A BN Group spokeswoman whose details were in an Aug. 25 press release said she no longer works at the company when reached by phone. A call to a phone number found on Axington’s website went unanswered. Newcastle United didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Singapore Exchange Ltd.’s regulatory arm said directors of firms like Axington listed on the bourse’s board for smaller companies are required to be assessed to ensure they’re “suitable to sit on the issuer’s board, taking into account their experience, expertise, character and integrity. Where necessary, appropriate investigations should be undertaken to evaluate suitability in light of recent developments.”
Little is known about the company that came into the spotlight for its reported 280 million pounds ($502.8 million) offer to buy Newcastle United, currently owned by billionaire Mike Ashley.
According to an online page from the Digital Banker, BN Group was formed from the merger of Shen’s Bellagraph Group and Dorr Group of Singaporean cousin entrepreneurs Terence Loh and Nelson Loh. It says the company, headquartered in Paris and with revenue of US$12 billion ($16.43 billion), is “the world’s most diversified conglomerate” with 31 entities and “presence across 100 countries in all major commercial sectors from healthcare & medical speciality, financial services and investments, luxury and real estate to lifestyle products & services.”
An official web page couldn’t be found, and BN Group on Tuesday withdrew previous press statements related to its business, including a July release about the launch of a new technology platform focusing on artificial intelligence, robotics and health care.
In a Straits Times article, the group said the posting of marketing material that has sparked the controversy “appears to be the result of the actions of certain errant individuals, possibly with malicious intent.” It added that it will appoint independent legal counsel for a probe and will not address any further media queries until investigations are completed.
