Tuan Sing

Tuan Sing: Koh Wee Meng, CHairmand and CEO of Fragrance, has emerged as a new significant shareholder after making new share purchases in the open market, buying 6.5m shares at an average price of $0.432 on 25 Sep, lifting his stake from 4.46% to 5.02%. Tuan Sing soared to a 5-yr high yday, closing at $0.455 per share with 26 m shares traded (~5.5% of float). Yet this closing price represents a still significant 30% discount to its book value of $0.65 per share, though broadly in line with comparable peers also trading at an avg discount of 28%. Tuan Sing is currently controlled by the Liem family, who owns collectively at least 53.5% stake. It remains speculative as to what Koh's intentions are. That said, OCBC notes that Koh, a seasoned real estate developer, has publicly indicated his plans for expansion in Australia following the slowdown in the Singapore residential market, and his company Fragrance Group has also recently proposed plans to spin-off its property business in Australia on the Catalist board. As such, Tuan Sing’s two prime hotels in Melbourne and Perth could be of special interest to Koh. OCBC currently does not have a rating on Tuan Sing.