AEM HOLDINGS (AEM) on Jan 1 (Saturday) announced that it has recommended the redesignation of non-executive and non-independent director James Toh, 57, to lead independent director with effect from Jan 1, as his stake in the company has been diluted to below 5 per cent, as well as his " independence" .

 

To recap, on Aug 31, AEM announced the completion of the allotment of 26.8 million shares to Venezio Investments, giving Venezio a stake of 8.68 per cent in the company. This has diluted the stakes of other shareholders such as Toh.

 

Toh is a co-founder and anchor investor of private equity firm Novo Tellus' s PE Fund 1 and Fund 2 - which is focused on buyouts of mid-cap technology industrial companies.

 

He has a direct interest of 11 million shares, and a deemed interest of 1.2 million shares in AEM, said the bourse filing. He has been on the board of AEM since 2018.

 

The announcement of Toh' s redesignation comes as lead independent director Adrian Chan stepped down from the board on Dec 31, 2021 to " facilitate board renewal" after a total of more than 9 years as an independent director of AEM. He was appointed as the lead independent director on Oct 1, 2017.

 

With his resignation, the 57-year-old also ceased to be the chairman of the nominating committee, as well as a member of the audit and risk management committee and remuneration committee. Chan holds some 85,000 shares of AEM, said the filing.

 

Separately, AEM announced the resignation of another independent director Basil Chan on Dec 31, 2021. The 70-year-old has also been with the company for more than 9 years and has decided to step down to " facilitate board renewal" .

 

As at his resignation, Basil Chan also ceased to be chairman of the audit and risk management committee and remuneration committee, as well as a member of the nominating committee.

 

AEM Holdings has on Dec 23 received clearance from the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading (SGX-ST) for the trading of AEM shares in US dollars (USD), in addition to Singapore dollars (SGD), with effect from 9am on Jan 4, 2022.

 

With the implementation of dual currency trading of AEM&rsquo s shares, the company will have a USD counter in addition to its existing SGD counter and investors will be able to buy or sell AEM shares through either counter given the fungibility of shares between the two counters.

 

Investors will be able to trade in the new USD counter for AEM shares in the same manner as trading for any other counters on the SGX-ST and investors can utilise their existing securities accounts and trading accounts with the Central Depository.

 

&ldquo We firmly believe that the implementation of dual currency trading would enhance the attractiveness of AEM for existing and potential investors," says Chandran Nair, CEO of AEM.

 

" Over the years, AEM&rsquo s shareholding has diversified significantly with many foreign investors and funds being part of the shareholder list now. Thus, this initiative of dual currency trading for AEM provides greater flexibility and convenience to investors keen to invest in AEM shares in SGD or USD. It also gives foreign investors more assurance when participating in AEMs shareholding as they can invest in the USD counter without being concerned with exchange rate fluctuations or incurring charges during currency conversion," he adds.