SC GLOBAL: Loading up by major shareholders

DA Article Expo Module

Friday, 07 November 2008 15:48

SC Global	Date of purchase	No. of shares purchased	Average price/share (S$)
Share buyback	06-10-2008	200,000	0.64
	07-10-2008	200,000	0.6187
	08-10-2008	200,000	0.6035
	09-10-2008	191,000	0.6044
	10-10-2008	300,000	0.50348
Simon Cheong	07-10-2008	500,000	0.65
David Tsang	13-10-2008	300,000	0.4647
Wheelock Properties	15-10-2008	7,347,000	Not available
	30-10-2008	4,136,000	Not available

SC Global is down 75% from a year ago.

LAST MONTH (Oct), when the stock market sharply fell, Wheelock Properties was a big buyer in the open market of SC Global shares.

Seems like Wheelock CEO David Lawrence has decided that he would have little, or no, regret buying.

That was unlike the massive 10% stake he purchased in June last year for which he decided to apologise to shareholders subsequently.

Following last month's purchase, Wheelock now holds 63,174,758 shares, or 16.05% of SC Global, an upscale residential developer.

Now trading at around 62 cents, SC Global shares have fallen about 75% from 12 months ago. At 62 cents, the stock is trading below its net asset value as of June 30 of 97 cents a share.

Wheelock Properties CEO David Lawrence apologised to his shareholders at an annual general meeting in April this year for having bought a stake in SC Global last year at the top of the market.

"I knew the market was not going to do well. The only reason I bought into SC Global was in case my gut feel was wrong and the (property) market kept going up. It was a hedge really," Mr Lawrence told Business Times last month (Oct).

Wheelock stock has fallen 57% from a year ago.

"But SC Global is a well-managed, good company which will do well in the long-term," he added.

‘Every cycle, I make one mistake. The last cycle, I bought Ardmore View. And then I had to write it down, but then I did make good money.

‘This cycle I bought SC Global. It was a mistake. But it is a good company, so I’ll just have to hold it longer and make money.’

SC Global directors Simon Cheong and David Tsang also were buyers last month (Oct), as did the company itself through its share buyback scheme (see table).

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