In the wake of the shock demise of Swiber Holdings, the chief regulatory officer of the Singapore Exchange (SGX), has urged listed companies in the Lion Republic to be more open with their disclosures.
The exchange was rocked 19 days ago when offshore firm Swiber initially said it would go into liquidation before changing its mind and opting to enter judicial management on the back of huge debts. Swiber’s downfall sparked a rout of other offshore-related shares on the exchange.
Speaking at a seminar today Tan Boon Gin from the exchange said: “The cardinal rule is – when in doubt, disclose.”
Tan elaborated: “The fundamental determinant of materiality is whether the information will be useful to your investors in making their decisions.”
SGX is understood to be investigating Swiber’s demise to check if any regulations were broken in terms of disclosure.
Swiber’s largest creditor is local bank DBS who has an exposure of more than $500m to the oilfield services company.
DBS officials will have been on edge earlier in the day when KrisEnergy filed its latest quarterlies.
KrisEnergy, whose largest creditor is also DBS, notched a $25m quarterly loss and admitted it might struggle to meet some debt covenants as it fights what it described as “one of the most severe downturns” offshore has ever seen. KrisEnergy, having already slashed 25% of its workforce, is now looking at asset sales to stay afloat.
