Following the news that property tycoon Ong Beng Seng has been issued a notice of arrest over a Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) investigation, shares of his company Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) have taken a dive.
Source: Reuters
This morning (14 July), the company’s shares opened at S$3.60, which marked a 26-cent or 7% decrease from the day before.
Mr Ong is the co-founder of HPL, which owns the Four Seasons and Hilton hotels.
It was announced that he will be surrendering his passport to CPIB upon his return from a trip, which began today.
HPL’s shares closed at S$3.86 yesterday, and despite the low opening today, the share price has since rebounded to S$3.75, according to Google Finance.
Source: Google Finance
However, this is still a nearly 3% dive in price from yesterday.
The sharp decline was primarily attributed to investor reaction to Mr Ong’s — who is also HPL’s managing director and controlling shareholder — notice of arrest by CPIB.
According to The Straits Times (ST), HPL stated in a filing to the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) that Mr Ong is assisting CPIB with its probe.
His relation to the case has to do with his interactions with Transport Minister S Iswaran. Minister Iswaran is currently on a leave of absence to aid in investigations as well.
Source: S Iswaran on Facebook
At present, no charges have been filed against Mr Ong. He is out on bail of S$100,000.
In 1995, HPL came under scrutiny after two men revealed that Singapore Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong and his mother, Kwa Geok Choo, had purchased units at discounts of between 5% and 12%.
Madam Kwa had agreed to buy one condominium in Nassim Jade and another in Scotts 28.
Source: Google Maps
Meanwhile, PM Lee, who was Deputy Prime Minister at the time, bought one unit from each of those developments.
However, then-PM Goh Chok Tong cleared them of any wrongdoing. Additionally, the amount that made up the discount was donated to charity.
The disclosures came to light after SGX criticised HPL for its delay in announcing the discount granted for two other units to Dr Lee Suan Yew, Lee Kuan Yew’s brother, and another HPL director.
Currently, Mr Ong is active in HPL’s strategic planning and business development activities.
He also has a controlling stake of 60.47% in the company.
Its core business consists of hotels and resorts, of which it has 39 across 15 countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, the United States, and more.
Furthermore, it holds interests in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Marriott International, InterContinental Hotels, and more.
As mentioned above, HPL has developed luxury residential properties such as Scotts 28, Nassim Jade, and Four Seasons Park.
Besides that, it owns retail properties such as Forum The Shopping Mall and Concorde Shopping Mall.
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Featured image adapted from Reuters and Google Maps.
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