SEAFOOD restaurant operator No Signboard has been served a notice by its controlling shareholder GuGong, alleging that the group’s interim chief executive Lim Teck-Ean had breached his fiduciary duties to the company.
The breach, one of the allegations in the notice, is in relation to the proposed acquisition of a 60 per cent stake in catering business Dining Haus for S$1.2 million, said the group in a bourse filing on Thursday (Feb 29).
The notice was served on Feb 23, and requested that the board – excluding executive chairman and CEO Lim Yong Sim – bring an action against Lim Teck-Ean by Mar 11.
Lim Yong Sim was excluded as he was placed on a leave of absence in August 2023, after being charged with share-price rigging offences.
No Signboard’s board said it views the allegations “very seriously” and is looking into them.
“The board is in process of obtaining legal advice on this matter and will update shareholders when there are material developments,” said the group.
In January, the company announced it had entered into a share sale and purchase agreement with Chia Shu Sian – chief executive officer of Dining Haus – and No Signboard’s investor Gazelle Ventures, for 60 per cent of the entire issued and paid up capital of Dining Haus.
The acquisition was completed on Feb 15, the group said.
An earlier report by The Business Times noted that Lim Teck-Ean is a substantial shareholder in Gazelle Ventures, a white knight investor that has offered investments into No Signboard, as well as supported acquisitions.
He was also the chief executive of Gazelle Ventures until August last year, when he was appointed interim CEO and re-designated as an executive director after Lim Yong Sim was placed on a leave of absence.
Gazelle Ventures has so far given No Signboard an advance deposit of S$5 million. On Feb 8, it agreed to provide additional funds into an escrow account to ensure sufficient working capital for the group, as part of a wider growth plan and to allow No Signboard’s counter to resume trading.
Shares of the company have been suspended from trading since Jan 24, 2022.
