Heng Fung takes 10% stake in Novena for $2.3m

Shares purchased from deputy chairman and CEO Toh Soon Huat

By Serena Ng
Sep 11, 2003
The Business Times

HONG KONG-LISTED Heng Fung Holdings appears to be building up an appetite for Singapore-listed companies, particularly those with a link to interior design or furniture.

The group, which recently entered into a reverse takeover deal with Enersave Holdings, has taken a 9.97 per cent stake in furniture retailer Novena Holdings for around $2.3 million, according to filings with the Singapore Exchange. Both Enersave and Novena are listed on Sesdaq.

The transaction was by way of a married deal conducted on Monday involving eight million Novena shares at 28.5 cents apiece through Heng Fung's unit Sure World Capital.

The shares were purchased from Novena's deputy chairman and CEO Toh Soon Huat, whose direct stake was reduced to 22.97 per cent from 32.94 per cent. Mr Toh also has a deemed shareholding of 21.57 per cent in Novena.

Also on Monday, a substantial shareholder of Novena, Tony Phua, sold five million shares at 26 cents each, reducing his direct stake to 0.62 per cent from 6.85 per cent.

Shares of Novena yesterday ended unchanged at 29.5 cents. For the six months ended June, Novena posted a group net profit of $685,000, up from $208,000 a year ago, while sales grew 74 per cent to $31.4 million.

In November last year, loss-making Enersave, which also has a furniture business through the upmarket Cream Homestore and Room, struck a deal with Novena in a joint venture involving a Shenzhen furniture maker.

Last week, Enersave unveiled an equity swap deal that would result in Heng Fung - currently a 24.51 per cent shareholder in it through subsidiary Online Credit Ltd - raising its stake in Enersave to 80 per cent.

In return, Enersave would acquire a 24.74 per cent in China Gas Holdings from the latter's controlling shareholder Heng Fung. China Gas has energy and infrastructure projects in China.

Heng Fung, whose businesses include investment holding, property investment and development, financial and securities investment, and credit card businesses, was recently also involved in a deal with Sesdaq-listed interior fit-out firm Futuristic Image Builder.

That deal, which was announced in June, involves Futuristic issuing Heng Fung's unit Online Credit Ltd (OCL) a two-year convertible bond for $4 million.

If OCL converts this bond and exercises a call option that came with it, it would also end up with about 49.6 per cent of Futuristic's enlarged capital.