Global Investments appoints Temasek unit as manager
By Goh Eng Yeow
SHARES of troubled investment firm Global Investments surged 12.8 per cent yesterday after small shareholders agreed to appoint a unit of Temasek Holdings to run the company’s business.
The move had been opposed by the previous manager, a unit of collapsed Australian investment bank Babcock & Brown, which fell victim to the financial crisis.
Babcock, the firm’s No. 1 shareholder with a 13.8 per cent stake, is in liquidation, so a replacement was needed. It wanted fellow Aussie manager Pengana to take over, but shareholders spurned its overtures.
Instead they appointed Temasek unit ST Asset Management - a move backed by the independent directors - in a bid to revive the company’s flagging fortunes.
Many of the 300 shareholders at the three-hour meeting, held at Hyatt Hotel, were won over by a pledge by ST Asset Management president Goh Mui Hong.
She said the manager would collect an incentive award in the form of new Global Investments shares only if the share price crossed 36 cents.
The counter shot up three cents, or 12.8 per cent, to 26.5 cents yesterday after the shares resumed trading.
Shareholders took the pledge as a sign of Ms Goh’s confidence that the new manager could turn the company’s fortunes around.
Shareholders with nearly two-thirds of the shares counted voted in favour of ST Asset Management’s appointment.
They had been angry at the high fees collected by Babcock during its tenure as manager. These had included a base management fee of $5.8 million in 2007 and another $2.8 million for last year, even as the stock plummeted from its issue price of $1.06 in December 2006 to as low as 4.5 cents in December last year.
Babcock also collected a fee of $10.3 million last year for managing Babcock & Brown Rail North America, in which Global Investments has a 40 per cent stake.
Visibly moved by the outcome of the meeting, Ms Goh said she had a ‘moral obligation’ to do well for Global Investments shareholders.
‘During this process, we feel an affinity with the shareholders - the man in the street. Some of the shareholders live in three-room flats and put in a lot of money.
‘They vote for us, not because we are from Temasek…but that we have the experience.’
She added that the new manager would start on its appointment immediately, taking over the running of the bank accounts and going through the assets carefully.
As Global Investments had invested jointly with Babcock in several investments, ST Asset Management would have to ‘focus on taking over the files and reading the documents carefully’.
Mr Boon Swan Foo, who will be appointed as chairman of the revamped board, said prospects for Global Investments were good.
Asked when ST Asset Management could start collecting its incentive fees, he replied: ‘The sooner, the better.’
Source : Straits Times - 26 November 2009
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