By Mak Yuen Teen

On July 14, 10.46 pm, Biolidics announced a five-year non-exclusive licensing agreement with Accelerate Technologies Pte Ltd (A*ccelerate), the commercialisation arm of A*STAR.

The announcement said that the agreement was signed on Thursday, July 9.  On Monday, July 13, 12.19 pm, a trading halt was called. Prior to the trading halt, the company’s share price had increased from 41 cents at close on July 9 to 52 cents – an increase of 27 percent. Why did the company only announce this agreement late last night when the agreement was signed on July 9?

This is just the latest case of questionable disclosures by the company. I have previously raised concerns about possible disclosure breaches, market manipulation and insider trading, and in my article here on July 5 (“Biolidics’ Disclosures Are Simply Unacceptable”, I called for a full investigation into these matters.

The company has now requested for a lifting of the trading halt this morning (July 15) at 7.31 am, followed by a sponsor’s statement at 7.37 am.

SGX should suspend trading of the stock immediately and an investigation into the disclosure lapses and other issues should be initiated. It should also look into whether the sponsor has adequately discharged its responsibilities.

Biolidics is quite simply making an A*S of the listing rules and Securities and Futures Act and our market risks becoming a laughing stock.