Dec 10, 2023: Cordlife responds to queries from Singapore Exchange Regulation about the lack of announcements about the temperature breaches and process lapses.
Dec 13, 2023: Cordlife accepts MOH’s notice and says it will not be making written representations.
Dec 15, 2023: Cordlife’s six-month suspension begins.
Jan 10, 2024: In response to questions in Parliament, Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary says MOH will review the regulatory requirements for cord-blood banking providers. The regulatory requirements to be reviewed include the frequency of inspections and other aspects of inspections, as well as monitoring and reporting requisites.
Jan 15, 2024: A report prepared by Cordlife in response to private queries from Singapore Exchange Regulation finds that the temperature at one storage tank was found to have reached as high as 20.4 deg C in 2021.
Jan 17, 2024: Cordlife says it will send cord-blood samples from all seven affected tanks to a third-party laboratory by Jan 18. The company says each sample batch may take three to six weeks to be completed, depending on whether a repeat test of samples from the same tank is needed.
Jan 23, 2024: MOH says it has found three more lapses at Cordlife, regarding cord-blood processing methods, the temperature monitoring system and preventive maintenance. Cordlife will be required to rectify these “potential non-compliances” by end-May.
Meanwhile, Robust Plan and its beneficial owner Shanghai Dunheng Capital Management ceases to be a substantial shareholder of Cordlife after selling 4.6 million shares for S$1.5 million.
Jan 26, 2024: MOH estimates that the results of the tests on the samples will be available by end-March.
Feb 5, 2024: Around this time, Cordlife begins offering refunds to affected customers whose cord-blood units were damaged.
Feb – Mar 2024: Leadership changes and arrests
Feb 19, 2024: Cordlife announces that Yiu Pang Fai, a former TransGlobal unit executive director, will take over as group CEO. Former group chief Tan’s resignation date is brought forward to Feb 19.
Feb 23, 2024: Cordlife receives a letter from SAC Capital sent on behalf of substantial shareholder Nanjing Xinjiekou Department Store, stating it is mulling making an offer for shares of Cordlife it does not already own. Cordlife elects not to disclose the letter, as there is no strict requirement under the listing rules to do so in the event there is no unusual trading activity of the company’s shares at the relevant time.
Feb 27, 2024: Cordlife guides for a 25 to 30 per cent slide in net profit for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023. It adds that the impact could be greater if findings of the ongoing investigations confirm that more tanks were adversely affected by the temperature breaches.
Feb 29, 2024: Cordlife director Joseph Wong steps down from his role as chair, but remains an independent director. Vice-chair Ho Choon Hou is appointed acting chairman.
Cordlife’s board reaffirms Yiu’s appointment as group CEO, but notes that two directors – Chen Xiaoling and Zhai Lingyun – have expressed reservations on his appointment and abstained from the vote.
Cordlife posts a net profit decline of 50.3 per cent year on year to S$1.5 million for H2 FY2023. Its full-year net profit falls 24 per cent to S$3.7 million.
The group also announces the set-up of a new subsidiary in Vietnam.
Mar 14, 2024: Cordlife calls for a trading halt pending an announcement, after its shares fall 6.3 per cent or S$0.15 to S$0.225.
Mar 21, 2024: Amid a trading halt, Cordlife says it has received separate extraordinary general meeting requisition notices from two substantial shareholders – Nanjing Xinjiekou and TransGlobal Real Estate Group – calling for the removal of certain directors.
Mar 22, 2024: Cordlife discloses that four directors and former group CEO Tan have been arrested by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and released on bail. CAD has also asked chief financial officer Thet Hnin Yi to assist in investigations, and has issued a notice for four other directors to attend an interview on Apr 2.
In the evening after the announcement, Cordlife posts a letter to shareholders from group CEO Yiu, affirming that the company is working with experts to introduce “stringent measures” to enhance operational standards. It is also focusing on a rectification plan to have the six-month suspension lifted.
Cordlife receives a second letter from SAC Capital, confirming that Nanjing Xinjiekou is reviewing its shareholding in the cord-blood bank but has not expressed a firm intention to make an offer.
Mar 24, 2024: Cordlife says it will table the resolutions proposed by Nanjing Xinjiekou, but will not table the resolutions proposed by TransGlobal Real Estate Group, as the controlling shareholder is not a “member” of Cordlife as defined by the Companies Act. Cordlife discloses the two requisition notices, as well as the two letters from SAC Capital.
