At MC Payment, there was certainly a protagonist — the affable, almost humble founder and CEO Anthony Koh. An Iago-type character emerged, following a placement in March this year. The understanding is that Iago’s vehicle was NGSC. The latter was on the Singapore Exchange’s watchlist, the stock was suspended and the SGX had instructed the company to delist. To monetise NGSC, Iago hatched a plan to get MC Payment to pay for a 51% stake in NGSC using MC Payment shares which are trading on SGX-Catalist.
The obvious answer is to appoint a new management team. But to back track a bit, on the afternoon of June 30 — after the results of Catalist-listed MC Payment’s EGM was known to shareholders — a local broker messaged: “It’s a non-event. But the events leading up to and including the EGM were so bizarre it was comical”.
Some market observers likened the tussle to a Korean drama. Others said it was akin to a Shakespearean tragedy like Othello. The story tells the tale of Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army charged with leading Venice on the eve of a war for the control of Cyprus. Iago is Othello’s jealous and bitter ensign, who goads his general to jealousy and anger till he kills his wife in a fit of rage.
