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Anthony Soh steps down as E3 president
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| Alvin Foo |
Tue, Apr 15, 2008
The Straits Times
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DR ANTHONY Soh, who sparked an uproar recently when he aborted a takeover of Jade Technologies, has quit as the group president of listed E3 Holdings.
The medical doctor-turned-investor told The Straits Times yesterday: 'I'm involved in some very time-consuming, energy-sapping activities in another listed company, so it's not fair to E3. While I'm fighting my battle somewhere else, it's not fair that the company is neglected.'
The Jade saga is being investigated by the Securities Industry Council. The former financial adviser on the aborted takeover, OCBC Bank, referred some matters related to the affair to the Commercial Affairs Department.
Dr Soh, 52, will remain as a non-executive director at E3, which has some joint investment plans with Jade.
| News of his resignation, effective from last Saturday, was announced by the company yesterday afternoon.
The e-commerce solutions provider, formerly known as Ei-Nets, said executive chairman Ngo Gim Kang would 'cover the duties of the group president'.
Dr Soh, who is Jade's group president, added: 'Things are not left in limbo at E3. The team there is able to hold the fort.'
Earlier this month, he made headlines after pulling the plug on his proposed $117 million Jade buyout, because he had no funds to do the deal after losing Jade shares he had pledged after an Australian brokerage collapsed.
Jade's shares plunged about 70 per cent in a single day on the news when they resumed trading.
News of Dr Soh's resignation as E3 group president lifted its share price, which closed half a cent up at three cents yesterday. Jade closed half a cent lower at seven cents.
Dr Soh had been cutting his stake in E3 in recent weeks before his resignation.
Singapore Exchange filings showed that he did an off-market transfer of 137 million shares on March 20 and another 43.3 million shares on March 24 - both at 3.5 cents apiece.
Dr Soh said these shares were transferred 'largely to the management team'.
The transactions reduced his E3 stake from 16 per cent, or 280 million shares, to only 5.7 per cent, or about 99.7 million shares.
Asked if E3 and Jade's joint projects in China will be affected by his resignation, Dr Soh said this may be reviewed later this month, and that there could be changes.
In January, E3 and Jade said they were together buying a 49 per cent stake in an oil refinery in China's Jilin province for about 241 million yuan (S$46.7 million).
The two companies also agreed to pay an initial 60 million yuan to acquire and develop a three sq km plot of land near the refinery.
alfoo@sph.com.sg
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