KTL Global, the offshore services firm, has announced that it has acquired Tianci Agritech, a private company that sells and distributes fresh vegetable and fruit produce, including the import and export of fruits and vegetables and growing of leafy and fruit vegetables.

 

KTL Global, on June 3, entered into a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Tianci&rsquo s sole shareholder Phuah Kin Huat. Under the SPA, KTL will acquire a 100% stake in Tianci Agritech for a consideration of $200,000.

 

Following the acquisition, Tianci will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of KTL Global.

 

According to the filing on June 3, Phuah is an acquaintance of KTL&rsquo s executive director Chin Teck Oon, though both parties &ndash as well as both businesses &ndash are not related.

However, Chin says he will be sitting out on the decision making process in connection with the proposed acquisition.

 

Tianci was incorporated only on April 9 and has yet to commence business activities save for its entry into supply contracts with two suppliers in Malaysia.

 

Under the SPA, the parties have agreed that Tianci will have a balance of at least $170,000 in its account upon the completion of the acquisition.

The proposed acquisition has allowed the group to first enter the business of supplying and distributing vegetables and fruits produce to various consumer groups in Singapore at a &ldquo relatively low initial cost&rdquo .

 

This is also based on research conducted that food demand and consumption in Singapore has been on the rise. The group says it expects the trend to continue to increase.

 

The expected increase is likely to increase demand for raw and, or perishable food products, which in turn, may allow the group to tap into the expanding consumer market.

In addition, the group reveals that its existing branding, operation and procurement (BOP) business has been &ldquo less than satisfactory&rdquo especially with the Covid-19 outbreak resulting in a significant impact on its customers in China.

 

Given the current performance of its BOP business, the group expects to report a net loss for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020.

 

Mainboard-listed KTL Global last Friday received a writ of summons dated April 14 by the solicitors of the chief executive officer (CEO) of Vibrant Group Khua Kian Keong.

 

This comes after the company received a letter of demand dated March 19 from Khua claiming a sum of $933,900, being the sum which he alleged he paid in connection with the acquisition of 5.5 million shares in the company on April 20, 2015.

 

The writ of summons had been served in connection with the claim. Pursuant to the writ, the company will need to either satisfy the claim, or enter an appearance within eight days after the service of the writ, KTL Global said.

 

Separately, Khua is facing a charge in court after allegedly pushing the former chairman of KTL Global, Tan Tock Han, down some stairs. Mr Tan was the executive chairman of KTL Global until he resigned in December 2018.

 

As a result of the fall, Mr Tan suffered a fracture to his right shoulder. The alleged incident took place on Jan 13, 2021, at the staircase leading from Level 2 to Level 1 at 7 Gul Road.

 

THE former chief executive officer (CEO) of mainboard-listed KTL Global, Wilson Tan Kheng Yeow, was on Thursday charged in the Singapore State Courts with cheating and false trading between 2014 and 2015.

 

According to charge sheets seen by The Business Times, Tan had on two occasions allegedly cheated KTL Global' s wholly owned subsidiary KTL Offshore of a total of around S$1.5 million to fund trades in the shares of KTL Global.

 

Tan faces two cheating charges, punishable under Section 420 of the Penal Code. He was also slapped with one charge of false trading, under Section 197(1A)(a) of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA).

 

In October 2017, KTL Global had said Tan was assisting with the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in investigations concerning a possible offence under the SFA. Tan subsequently surrendered his passport to the authorities and resigned as CEO.

 

Tan is accused to have deceived KTL Offshore by representing that a S$1.5 million remittance to KTL Global' s associate company FW Coastal Ventures on Nov 4, 2014 was for FW' s working capital purposes. But Tan had in fact planned to use S$500,000 out of that remittance amount to fund trades in KTL Global, according to the charge sheets.

 

From April 23, 2015 to May 5, 2015, Tan allegedly deceived KTL Offshore that about S$1 million was to be transferred to KTL Offshore Hong Kong, to buy machinery on behalf of KTL Offshore Technology (Nantong), which was 40 per cent-owned by KTL Global.

 

Tan was said to have intended to route the S$1 million from the Hong Kong firm to Infinity Global Consultancy, which is solely owned and controlled by Tang Boon Hai.

 

According to another charge sheet, Tan engaged in an alleged conspiracy with Mr Tang to give a false or misleading impression that there was active trading in shares of KTL Global between October 2014 and September 2015.

 

Mr Tang is said to have used 14 trading accounts to buy 122.8 million shares and sell 120.7 million shares from Nov 4, 2014 to Sept 8, 2015. This resulted in the average daily traded volume for the stock to surge to about one million shares during that period, up from about 96,859 shares over the previous six months.

 

To do this, Mr Tang also allegedly instructed a former trading representative from OCBC, Tan Chun Yong, to place orders and trades in the stock using six accounts, which belonged to other individuals and were serviced by OCBC Securities.

 

Tan Chun Yong was charged on Thursday with abetting by intentionally aiding Mr Tang in this conduct to create a false or misleading appearance of active trading in KTL Global' s shares, under Section 197(1)(a) of the SFA.

 

According to the charge sheets, OCBC was not informed of and did not consent to Tan Chun Yong' s use of the six accounts.

 

He was thus also slapped with six charges under Section 201(b) of the SFA, one for each account.

 

Wilson Tan Kheng Yeow was offered bail of S$100,000 while Tan Chun Yong was offered a S$35,000 bail.

 

The court adjourned their cases to Nov 26 and Nov 19 respectively for further mention.