A Singaporean supplier of cranes and heavy machinery has emerged as a substantial shareholder of mining services player McAleese Group, spending over $3 million to acquire more than 9 per cent of the company.
Singapore Stock Exchange-listed Tat Hong's associate TH Investments acquired the stake via a series of purchases extending back about two months.
Tat Hong is already a significant player in Australia through construction equipment sales and industrial hire subsidiary Tutt Bryant, which it acquired in 1996. It has several branch offices in Western Australia.
TH Investments is subsidiary of private Singaporean entity Tat Hong Investments which is held outside the listed entity. Apart from its name, it also shares common controlling shareholders and the same address as the listed group.
McAleese is one of the supplier companies to strike a deal with Atlas Iron to support its capital raising efforts after it averted the permanent closure of its mines as the iron ore price plummeted. McAleese confirmed this week it had emerged with a more than 10 per cent stake.
Tat Hong is listed on the Singaporean Stock Exchange and has a market capitalisation of $330 million. It listed on the ASX in 1996, and subsequently delisted in November 2005.
Tutt Bryant employs 569 Australian staff, approximately 100 of which are in WA. Major projects include being contracted by Subsea 7 to undertake heavy lift crane and load-out of subsea spools on the Chevron operated Gorgon Project.
After being listed on the ASX in December 2005, Tutt Bryant was delisted by Tat Hong in late 2010.
According to disclosures to the Singapore exchange, Tutt Bryant was responsible for an 85 per cent fall in profit for its most recent financial year at Tat Hong, caused by one-off non-cash $30 million impairment.
It has been a tough run for McAleese. Last month it announced a one-off impairment of approximately $17 million for the year ending June 30 2015 due to HHA Group, in which it has a 50 per cent stake, being placed in administration.
It has also announced expected non-cash impairment charges against the carrying value of assets in two key divisions, specialised transport, and heavy haulage and lifting. It also revealed it was monitoring receipts from debtors, including a significant debtors the latter division.
McAleese's shares fell 4 per cent, to close today's trading at 0.086 cents.
