Singaporean partners to pursue case vs entry of new investor in Alliance Select

SINGAPORE – The Singaporean shareholders of listed seafood processor Alliance Select Foods International, Inc. are determined to pursue a case to stop the entry of a new investor which they claim to know very little about.

The Regional Trial Court of Pasig City last month dismissed the petition of Singaporean investors led by Albert Hong Hin Kay and Hedy Yap-Chua to stop the enforcement of a board resolution allowing Strong Oak to acquire 28.7 percent of the company through a P563-million private placement.

The court, however, agreed to hear the petitioner’s application for a writ of preliminary injunction.

Hong and Chua the new investor was allowed to come in allegedly without them being properly consulted.

They said Strong Oak’s entry would dilute their holdings to 24.52 percent, from 34.4 percent.

Chua said they have filed a derivative suit with prayer for the creation of an interim management committee, which, if granted, would manage the company while the petition for an injunction is being heard.

The proposed interim committee would be composed of one representative each from the side of the petitioners, the court and the management.

The controlling officers and directors of the company, in turn, filed on Wednesday criminal complaints against Chua and Hong before the Pasig City Regional trial Court allegedly for revealing confidential corporate financial secrets.

This was announced in a regulatory filing to the local bourse but no further details were provided.

“We have not seen the case so we cannot comment on it,” said Chua.

She said that despite being locked in a corporate squabble with the company’s Filipino shareholders, they see growth potential in the firm.

“We invested in the potential of this project. We feel that if the management concerns can be addressed, there may still be hope,” said Chua, adding that they are not interested in taking over the company but only to be included in the loop.

Alliance Select, with Jonathan Dee as chief executive officer, produces over 200 metric tons of processed seafood daily, its main product being canned tuna. The company supplies hundreds of brand-name companies across 60 companies worldwide.

Its export markets include Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and South America.

It also processes the by-products and scraps from its tuna processing operations into fishmeal and sells these to the domestic and export markets. It recently acquired a New Zealand-based company, Akaroa Salmon NZ, Ltd., to tap into the global smoked salmon market.