Obama Photos Fiasco Exposes Singapore Bidder of Football Club
Little is known about the company that came into the spotlight for its reported $368 million offer to buy Newcastle United.
(Bloomberg) -- The news came as a surprise when a Singapore-registered company this month bid to buy the Newcastle United Football Club in the U.K.
The company in question, Bellagraph Nova (BN) Group, has since come under increased scrutiny.
First, it admitted to photoshopping marketing photos with former U.S. President Barack Obama. And on Wednesday, Axington Inc., a tax-services firm listed in Singapore that’s controlled by two of BN Group’s founders, halted trading after a 14% plunge Tuesday on a report that the regulatory arm of the city-state’s bourse recommended an investigation into the suitability of its board of directors. The third BN Group founder, Evangeline Shen, serves as a non-independent, non-executive chairman at Axington.
The controversy made former U.S. ambassador to Singapore Kirk Wagar resign as an independent director at Axington, who cited “recent revelations,” according to local newspaper the Straits Times. The company said it will hold an extraordinary general meeting Thursday.
A BN Group spokeswoman whose contact details were in an Aug. 25 press release said she no longer worked at the company when reached by phone. A call to a phone number found on Axington’s website went unanswered. Newcastle United didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Singapore Exchange Ltd.’s regulatory arm said directors of firms like Axington listed on the bourse’s board for smaller companies are required to be assessed to ensure they’re “suitable to sit on the issuer’s board, taking into account their experience, expertise, character and integrity. Where necessary, appropriate investigations should be undertaken to evaluate suitability in light of recent developments.”
Little is known about the company that came into the spotlight for its reported 280 million pounds ($368 million) offer to buy Newcastle United, currently owned by billionaire Mike Ashley.
According to an online page from the Digital Banker, BN Group was formed from the merger of Shen’s Bellagraph Group and Dorr Group of Singaporean cousin entrepreneurs Terence Loh and Nelson Loh. It says the company, headquartered in Paris and with revenue of $12 billion, is “the world’s most diversified conglomerate” with 31 entities and “presence across 100 countries in all major commercial sectors from healthcare & medical specialty, financial services and investments, luxury and real estate to lifestyle products & services.”
An official web page couldn’t be found, and BN Group on Tuesday withdrew previous press statements related to its business, including a July release about the launch of a new technology platform focusing on artificial intelligence, robotics and health care.
In a Straits Times article on Wednesday, the group said the posting of marketing material that has sparked the controversy “appears to be the result of the actions of certain errant individuals, possibly with malicious intent.” It added that it will appoint independent legal counsel for a probe and will not address any further media queries until investigations are completed.
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