IHC

IHC: According to SGX filings, Oxley's executive chairman and his deputy CEO, Ching Chiat Kwong and Low See Ching Eric, have been buying into IHC, prompting speculations that they could be eyeing IHC's properties.

Between 23 and 29 Sep, Ching and Low acquired an aggregate 135.4m shares via married deals and purchases over the market, bringing their stakes above the 5% mark, to 12.1% and 6.1%, respectively. The shares were acquired between 8.5¢ and 9.4¢ each.

Conversely, substantial stakeholders of IHC including its CEO, have been paring down their stakes since 21 Sep, when share price decimated to the current levels from $0.315, prior to the trading halt on 15 Sep.

The stakes of the founding parties Fan Kow Hin, Andrew Aathar and Jong Hee Sen, has fallen from an aggregate 58.7% prior to 21 Sep, to the latest standing of 35.1%.

After the changes, Fan still remains as IHC's largest shareholder (22.4%), followed by Oxley's Ching (12.1%), Andrew (10.6%) and Oxley's Low (6.1%).

To recap, IHC is in the midst of a proposed acquisition of Healthway Medical Corp via a scheme of arrangement, through a 1-for-4.3 share swap deal.

However during finalisation of the acquisition in mid-Sep, IHC came under probe by SGX on possible share rigging, after a review of trades showed that a handful of connected individuals accounted for over 60% of trades done since Apr '15.

Speculations have been rife with the introduction of the Oxley duo as IHC's majority shareholders.

As a gauge, IHC's 18 properties include:

- 12 freehold fully operational nursing homes across Japan;
- An operational 125-bed hospital in Wuxi, China, currently under expansion for an additional 800-beds, scheduled for completion in 2019;
- A 150-bed specialist hospital and commercial development in Chengdu, China;
- An upscale medical hub and commercial development earmarked for completion in 2018;
- Two office buildings in Melbourne, Australia
- A proposed medical centre in Geelong, Australia

At the current price, IHC is trading at a 44% discount to its NAV/share of $0.1451.