$ MC Payment: TVV +51.52% has said it " strongly and squarely" disagrees with its controlling shareholder Ching Chiat Kwong' s latest allegation that the firm' s board issue is one of governance.

 

Both parties have been embroiled in an ongoing war of words this month.

 

In a statement on Saturday night, MC Payment said it wishes to assure its shareholders that it is " well familiar with the principles of good corporate governance" and has consistently striven to ensure that the company complies strictly with them.

 

Mr Ching has to date not identified any breach of principles of good corporate governance by the company, it added.

 

Its statement comes in response to Mr Ching' s statement on Friday claiming the board is using the existing management' s contributions to the company' s business as a reason for opposing his requests for a board refresh. Doing so " conflates" the roles of the executive and board, he said.

 

On Saturday, MC Payment reiterated that its desire is to have the company " remain above the fray" , and not be drawn into any private disputes Mr Ching may have with any particular shareholder or director.

 

The company further said it does not act on the whim or on behalf of only one shareholder or one group of shareholders, but rather in the interests of all shareholders.

 

Mr Ching is looking to add five directors to MC Payment' s board, including himself. Resolutions for this will be put to a vote at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on June 30. Mr Ching is also proposing to remove all board directors except for one. Resolutions for this will be deferred to another EGM.

 

Mr Ching' s latest statement also sought to provide more information about the directors he has proposed for election to MC Payment' s board. For instance, Mr Ching said one of them, Tan Chee Keong, is currently the head of payments consulting at American Express International.

 

MC Payments' shares surged 51.5 per cent or S$0.17 to close at S$0.50 on Friday after the company said it received a letter of intent from Indonesia-based payments and remittance company Dompet Harapan Bangsa.

 

The latter is looking to take a strategic equity stake in the former, MC Payment said in a separate bourse filing.