MAS takes action against man for insider trading

AsiaOne
Thursday, Apr 18, 2013
SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has taken civil penalty enforcement action against Mr Ang Kok Min for insider trading under Section 219(2)(a) of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA).
On August 13, 2010, Wilmar International Limited (Wilmar) announced its intention to purchase 20 per cent of the share capital of Kencana Agri Limited (Kencana), a company listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd (SGX-ST), at $0.35 per share.
After the release of the announcement, Kencana's share price closed at $0.385, a 10 percentage increase over the preceding day's closing price of $0.35.
Before the announcement, Mr Ang, a senior trading manager at Wilmar at that time, had attended a meeting during which it was agreed that the investment by Wilmar into Kencana would be at an indicative price of $0.35 per Kencana share.
Whilst in possession of the non-public price-sensitive information concerning Wilmar's intention to invest in Kencana, Mr Ang bought 50,000 Kencana shares on July 23, 2010, and another 50,000 Kencana shares on August 2, 2010.
As a result of his purchases, Mr Ang made a profit of approximately $6,200.
Mr Ang has admitted to contravening Section 219(2)(a) of the SFA and has paid MAS a civil penalty of $50,000, without any court action.
The matter was referred to MAS by SGX-ST.
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