SERBA Dinamik Holdings Bhd is adamant that it has not derailed from serving the best interest of its investors as opposed to public impression that the company is in a “beyond repair mess”.
This morning, the global integrated oil & gas (O&G) service provider retaliated to its detractors by taking a swipe at market regulator Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd which has reportedly served an originating summons (OS) to Serba Dinamik when the company has yet to receive the OS officially.
“Serba Dinamik observes numerous queries regarding the OS filed by Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd.
“The group was only made aware of the OS from the media. At this point of writing, the group reserves its comments on the matter as we have yet been served with the said summons.”
In a related development, Serba Dinamik is certainly not in favour of The Edge’s editorial stance dated Nov 17 that the company should publicly unveil preliminary findings of the special independent review (SIR) conducted by Ernst & Young Consulting Sdn Bhd (EY Consulting).
The company again reiterated that the report in its current state “is still very much work-in-progress with many items still pending and inconclusive”.
“Incomplete information can cause unnecessary and wrong market reactions,” the company’s newly-appointed chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Farid Abu Hassan told FocusM in his maiden media interview.
“We want to be treated fairly as the authorities are asking us to do things that are not fair or just to the company as well as our investors. There is a need to have robust information in place before any conclusion can be made.”
Mohamed Farid replaces Datuk Illyas Pakeer Mohamed who stepped down as Serba Dinamik’s chairman alongside independent non-executive director (INED) Johan Mohamed Ishak yesterday (Nov 24), both citing discontentment with requirements imposed by Bursa Malaysia have prohibited them from fairly discharging their duties as Serba Dinamik’s independent directors.
In its recent editorial commentary, the leading publisher of financial news has argued that the market comprising minority shareholders of Serba Dinamik, its bankers, the investing public and its bondholders has been hoping that the review done by EY Consulting will shed light on whether the company’s former external auditor KPMG PLT (who has since resigned) or the oil & gas construction firm is right.
“Instead, Serba Dinamik has also challenged the review done by EY Consulting and defied the directive of Bursa (Malaysia Securities Bhd) to make the findings public. The company said its independent directors (newly appointed after the previous ones resigned amidst the problem) did not agree that there was anything material to release,” contended The Edge.
“It went one step further by also suing EY Consulting and Bursa (Securities) to stop any disclosure of the review done by EY Consulting to anyone.”
Mohamed Farid also contended that the authorities cannot just jump the gun as such mannerism would trigger a knee-jerk reaction.
“What they want our board to do is against the fiduciary duties of directors to ensure accurate and fair information is made public,” he opined. “Recently, VU Kumar, an ex-partner of PwC, has remarked in The Edge that he found it strange that a consulting company is conducting the special audit when such task should be done by an auditor.”
Citing Kumar’s views, the Serba Dinamik chairman said the Terms of Reference (TOR) should clearly indicate that the work has been done in accordance with the requirements under the Bursa Malaysia Main Market Listing Rules (MMLR) as that would avoid any doubt on whether the report could be released to Bursa Malaysia.
Serba Dinamik was last transacted at 35 sen at the close of the mid-day trading on Oct 22 prior to the trading suspension of its shares/warrants, hence giving the company a market capitalisation of RM1.31 bil. – Nov 25, 2021
Photo credit: The Edge Markets
