Today I ll be writing about disclosure of Interests/ Change in Interest of Substantial Shareholder(s) or Director/Chief Executive Officer.
You will see this very often when you scroll through the Company Announcement under the Company Information Tab. When I just started investing, I remembered scrolling down to check the earnings report and end up seeing many of these.
Well the purpose of this is that Under the Securities and Futures Act as well as Companies Act, Part VII, MAS requires CEO/Directors of the company, substantial shareholders, trustee manager of listed REIT or BT to actually disclose when there's a change in their shareholdings.
In the form,
There's a column for direct interest and deemed interest.
I'll label them into 4 points.
1. Control of board / controlling interest - where a body corporate has, or is deemed to have, an interest in a share and the body corporate is, or its directors are, accustomed or under an obligation whether formal or informal to act in accordance with the directions, instructions or wishes of a person; or a person has a controlling interest in the body corporate, that per son shall be deemed to have an interest in that share;
2. Control / exercise of ≥ 20% or more through itself, its associates or together with associates – where a body corporate has, or is deemed to have, an interest in a share and a person is, the associates of a person are, or a person and his associates are, entitled to exercise or control the exercise of not less than 20% of the votes attached to the voting shares in the body corporate, then that person shall be deemed to have an interest in that share;
3. Interest arising from right to acquire shares/units , shares/units purchase agreement, options to acquire shares/units etc.
4. Where one is entitled (other than by being a proxy or representative to vote at a meeting) to exercise or control the exercise of a right attached to the share/units
Difference between direct and deemed interest
Let's illustrate this difference with an example.
In 800Super's example, Lee Koh Yong owns 2.8% of the shares in his own name, that's direct interest.
Deemed interest is one which are not held in the name of the director but the law regards as being attributable to him. According to Companies Act, Mr. Lee Koh Yong, Executive Chairman of 800Super has control of board (pt 1) and as he owns 28% (≥20%) of the company which in turn own shares of 800Super (pt 2) so he has deemed interest in 800Super shares in which Yong Seong Investments has an interest.
A director/CEO can also deemed to have interest in the shares if his spouse or child (below 21 years of age) owns the shares.
For point 3 and 4, you will see it in companies which commonly issue options/warrants to management which gives them the right to exercise the options at a certain price. Once CEO/Directors are awarded options/warrants, they have to declare as they have deemed interest in the shares of the company.
Effective ownership interest vs deemed interest
There's actually a difference in the two terms used above. In the case of 800Super, Mr. Lee's effective ownership interest is actually 2.8% + 28%* 66%= 21.28%. Deemed interest=66%. Technically speaking, Mr. Lee should have 21.28% of voting rights, because he only owns 28% (not 100%) of Yong Seong Investments Pte. Ltd.
Let's work on 2 more examples:
Global Logistic Properties
In the case of GLP, PNC Financial Services Group, being a substantial shareholder of GLP ( ≥5% effective ownership in of GLP) needs to notify company of its shareholding movement.
Since it owns ≥20% of Blackrock Inc which in turn own shares of GLP, PNC Financial Services Group has deemed interest in shares of GLP.
Hotel Properties
There was a change in the Managing Director Ong Beng Seng's deemed interest as his wife added more shares in her own name and through her holding company.
This transaction also shows that MD deemed to have interest in his spouse in shares own by her spouse in her own name or shares which she has deemed interest in.
So here's how it's derived:
Before Transaction
After Transaction
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I am also learning at the same time :)
Last Friday, I received a call from OCBC securities that I was not allotted any private placement shares for Fraser Logistics & Industrial Trust IPO. (I've updated in FB last week). So from the email from OCBC it states that the public offer starts on 10 to 16th June. Most likely I ll be applying some. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Source:
http://www.imas.org.sg/uploads/media/2012/10/29/348_111130_Susbstantial_Shareholdings_Disclosure_Obligations.pdf
http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/_BlackRock_Form_3_091015_final.ashx?App=Announcement&FileID=373318
http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/_FORM1_OBS_FINAL.ashx?App=Announcement&FileID=286882
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