MEDCO acquirer is Singaporean-based fund

This is a follow-up to the story about how MEDCO’s [MED 0.21 ?28.5%; 1619% avgVol] parent company was acquired by a mysterious firm called Winter Dragon Limited (WDL). Thanks to MED’s disclosure, we now have a little more information about who (or what) has acquired MED ahead of the planned tender offer. According to the disclosure, control of Millennium Empire Holdings (MEH), the parent company of the parent company of MED, passed from Tay Yew Beng Peter to WDL, with MED asserting that there is no “material” relationship between Tay Yew Beng Peter and WDL [link]. The amount paid by WDL for MEH was $1.56 million USD. By purchasing MEH, WDL gains control of MEH’s 100% interest in Bonham Strand Investments (BSI), and in turn, gains control of BSI’s 69.68% interest in MED. WDL’s rationale for the transaction is that it “seeks to expand their investments in Southeast Asia”. WDL is owned by Visanta Master Fund Pte. Ltd., which is based out of Singapore. 

MB BOTTOM-LINE: I still don’t get what’s going on here, but at least the cast of characters is a little less chaotic. Still, my Google searches for anything related to WDL’s beneficial owner, Visanta Master Fund, turned up almost nothing except for a hit on a past investment in a Japanese instant noodle manufacturer. The rationale provided–that WDL wants to expand its investment in SE Asia–feels incomplete to the level of malicious compliance. Regardless of the details, MED’s stock continued to rocket. It was up 28% yesterday after being up 50% the day before which is good enough for a 92% two-day gain. This puts MED’s marketcap at P670 million. For a company that WDL paid P90 million to acquire. Expect more developments to come.  

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