In a bourse filing on June 5, Koh Wee Seng, chairman of pawnbroking and jewellery retailer Aspial Lifestyle acquired 800,000 shares in the company at an average of around 39.4 cents per share.
Koh is also the CEO of Aspial Corporation, the parent company of Aspial Lifestyle. After the transaction, Koh holds more than 190.7 million Aspial Lifestyle shares. Combined with his deemed interest of more than 1.31 billion shares arising from his more than 20% stake in Aspial Corporation and nearly 280,000 shares held by his spouse, Koh’s total interest in the subsidiary reached 75.06%.
Aspial Lifestyle recently raised $84.8 million from a private placement which attracted $60 million from institutional investors including Eastspring Investments, ICH Synergrowth Fund, JP Morgan, Lion Global Investors and Value Partners, with the rest coming from a preferential offering.
The company also transferred from the Catalist-board to the Mainboard of the stock exchange on May 4, following a trend of similar moves by other issuers.
Shares in Aspial Lifestyle closed at 37.5 cents, down three cents or 7.4% on June 5. Ytd, the counter is up 74% or 16 cents, boosted by higher gold prices and demand for its offerings.
