Some snippets:
Activist investors, having targeted companies in Japan and South Korea in recent years, have discovered a new playground in Asia.
In Singapore, where activist investing was virtually unheard of until now, two companies have found themselves in the crosshairs in the past month alone. Quarz Capital Management Ltd. urged retailer Metro Holdings Ltd. to return excess cash to investors and Dektos Investment Corp. pushed Geo Energy Resources Ltd. to change its debt structure, saying the coal-miner’s shares are undervalued by as much as 60 percent.
The investors are challenging a clubby, consensus-driven corporate culture where shareholder interests have traditionally taken a back seat. In doing so, they’re shining a light on a swathe of small companies that are undervalued, flush with cash and often ignored by analysts.
“We are on the cusp of change here,” said Lawrence Loh, associate professor at the National University of Singapore and director of the Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations at the NUS Business School. “Singapore is probably one of the best-kept secrets, it’s a very fertile ground for digging by activist investors.”
Engaging companies publicly came late to the market because generally, “boards and senior management prefer a collaborative approach, which is in line with Asian culture,” said David Gerald, president of the Securities Investors Association of Singapore, an industry group representing shareholders.
That may be starting to change as investors realize that reliability and transparency of local accounting and regulatory frameworks can work in their favor. Activist investors and short sellers are encouraging Singaporean shareholders to speak out at annual meetings and in discussions with management, said Dektos founder Roland Thng.
“In the past in Singapore, it was just a case of ‘I am a shareholder, I buy, I pray, I hope,”’ Thng said. “Now it’s a case of ‘I let my money really work hard for me. But with my voice, I can make it faster.”’
The more critical approach is spreading to retail investors -- a development that will ultimately benefit Singapore, according to Thng.
“Local investors are getting more daring, at least they know that they have the right to do that,” he said. “And that will give a boost to Singapore’s corporate landscape which still is a bit staid and more focused on consensus than in the U.S.”
How about the situation in Malaysia, will activist investors take on the Board of Directors as well? The "clubby, consensus-driven corporate culture where shareholder interests have traditionally taken a back seat" corporate culture is even more prominent in Malaysia than in Singapore.
Would anybody dare to take on one of the "sleepy", underperforming GLCs, or would that be seen as "efforts to undermine the Malaysian economy". Those scary, threatening words (used to contain any critical remark) are heard more often lately.
Time will tell ....
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