Singapore offshore player Vallianz claims business is continuing as usual after its largest shareholder Swiber Holdings filed for liquidation overnight.

Answering queries from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) over the massive plunge in its share price within minutes of the market opening on Thursday morning noted that its 25.2% shareholder Swiber – its largest – had announced before trading that it had filed for a winding-up application.

This along a previously announced resignation of its chairman Raymond Goh the founder of Swiber it said it was not aware of any information that would explain the trading in shares.

Vallianz went onto say: “The board wishes to inform shareholders that the Group’s business and operations are continuing as usual. The group’s core vessel chartering business is focused mainly in the Middle East and its customers comprise primarily national oil companies.”

It flagged up the support of its other major shareholder Rawabi Holding which owns 18.7% of Vallianz.

“Rawabi has extensive knowledge and network in the Middle East oil and gas market. The group’s vessel charter revenue is largely driven by its Middle East operations,” it said. Vallianz is based in Swiber's headquarter's building in the International Business Park in the west of Singapore.

Listed on SGX’s second board Catalist Vallianz’s shares closed down 41.7% on Thursday at SGD0.021 with the largest volume of the day of 3.3m shares traded.

Source: seatrade-maritime.com