Media Releases
Published Date: 28 May 2003

MAS Issues Interim Stop Order on Prospectus of EC-ASIA International Limited



Singapore, 28 May 2003. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today issued an interim stop order on the prospectus of EC-Asia International Limited.

It did so because of concerns that EC-Asia?s prospectus did not contain adequate disclosure on certain matters that MAS considered to be material for investors to make an informed decision on the offer.

EC-Asia has informed MAS that it will withdraw the offer and will return all application monies to investors as soon as is practicable. The Company, through its issue manager, UOB Asia Ltd, will be announcing details on the return of application monies later today.

EC-Asia is a Singapore-incorporated company that recycles memory chips. The Company is making a public offer of 27,498,000 shares1 at an issue price of $0.30 per share as stated in its prospectus dated 21 May 2003.

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Note to Editors:

Section 242 of the Securities and Futures Act (Cap. 289) empowers MAS to stop an offer if the prospectus contains any false or misleading statement, has omitted any material information that should be included in a prospectus or does not comply with the SFA in any other way. 

Before MAS may serve a stop order, it must notify the issuer of its intention to do so and give the issuer an opportunity to make written submissions to MAS within 10 days to show why MAS should not serve the stop order.

In the interim, MAS may, if it is of the opinion that any delay in serving the stop order is not in the public interest, serve an interim stop order to prohibit the issuer from allotting, issuing or selling any of the securities being offered. The interim stop order is valid for 14 days unless it is revoked or MAS serves a final stop order before that.

If MAS issues a final stop order, the offeror will be required to refund all application moneys that have been received from applicants within 14 days from the date of the stop order.