SINGAPORE (June 27): Attilan Group, which has received a notice to delist from the Singapore Exchange on June 4, may get a new lease of life given the company is in talks with Tremendous Opportunity Fund I LP for the proposed reverse takeover of Tremendous Entertainment Group (TEG).
TEG is a producer of family entertainment content comprising broadcast, live and interactive exhibitions. Its broadcast unit produces Hi-5, the popular preschool children’s TV programme while TEG’s subsidiary Base Entertainment Asia manages the theatre at the Marina Bay Sands.
Hi-5’s relationship with Attilan goes way back to 2012 when it was still known as Asiasons Capital. The assets of Hi-5 were acquired by one of the private equity funds Attilan was managing -- Dragonrider Opportunity Fund II LP.
Two years later, Asiasons parted ways with the assets when it sold its Malaysia private equity unit, which included the Dragonrider fund, to Tremendous Asset Partners which was later renamed Tremendous Asia Partners.
To complicate the acquisition deal, a venture fund owned by Attilan -- TAP Venture Fund 1 -- which was placed under judicial management last year after preference shareholders who invested some $35 million in it took legal action against the fund, is also one of the creditors of TEG.
“The proposed acquisition, if successful, will further transform the principal business of the Company into a family entertainment content business and is in line with the Group’s corporate strategy to venture into a new business area which will allow it to achieve a more consistent and sustainable financial growth,” says Attilan in a Thursday morning filing signed off by Managing Director Datuk Jared Lim Chih Li.
Attilan, as Asiasons, was one of the three penny stocks allegedly manipulated by John Soh Chee Wen in 2013. This subsequently led to a massive crash of the Singapore market, wiping out some $8 billion in value.
The two other penny stocks Blumont Group and LionGold Corp are still trading on SGX while the trial of alleged mastermind Soh and his co-conspirator Quah Su-Ling will resume in August.
Attilan was first placed on the SGX watch-list on April 11, 2016. It had received the notification from SGX on June 4 after group did not meet the requirements for its removal from the watch-list. Shares in Attilan are currently suspended. It last traded at 0.2 cent on June 21, 2018.
Attilan says vendor Tremendous Opportunity Fund understands the company has received a delisting notification and will be submitting an appeal or extension application.
“The parties agree that the acquisition of the sale shares will proceed regardless whether the company is granted the appeal or extension by the SGX-ST in respect of the delisting notification,” insists Attilan.
