THE trustee-manager of Dasin Retail Trust has appointed a new chief investment officer (CIO) after firing the previous CIO who demanded alleged outstandings owed by the trustee-manager, based on its bourse filing on Tuesday (Feb 13).
It received letters of demand on Jan 24 from four individuals: its chief executive officer Wang Qiu, chief financial officer Ng Mun Fai, executive secretary Liu Ting, as well as former CIO Lu Zhiqi, for payments totalling S$783,376 in respect of monthly salaries, payments made on behalf, and/or a loan extended to it.
On Feb 3, Dasin Retail Trust’s board of directors said that it is “seeking legal advice” on the matter.
The board, as the trust’s trustee-manager, has subsequently on Feb 5 given notice of termination to Lu, before entering into an employment agreement with Chinese real estate veteran Wang Peng, who will be the new CIO from Feb 13.
Wang will be responsible for overseeing, leading and executing the investment and asset management functions, as well as the restructuring efforts of the trustee-manager, said the board.
The leadership movement came as the management received a requisition notice for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) from a group of unitholders on Jan 19. The request to hold an EGM by unitholders entails the removal of the trust’s manager.
The unitholders also requested to internalise the trustee-manager function of Dasin Retail Trust and form a committee of the requisitioning shareholders claiming to own more than half the trust to identify and appoint a new board of directors.
Glory Class Ventures, as the other requestor for the EGM, sought to vote on three resolutions, including the removal of the current trustee-manager from Dasin Retail Trust. Glory Class Ventures holds about 11.8 per cent of the total voting rights of all the unitholders, according to its requisition notice dated Jan 22.
The trustee-manager said on Jan 26 that the EGM requisition notice was invalid, as the unitholders and Glory Class Ventures are not “unitholders” as defined under Section 54 of the Business Trusts Act 2004.
The counter of Dasin Retail Trust was trading flat at S$0.05 as at 1.20 pm on Tuesday.
