A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) unit
denied dumping a Singapore private wealth client’s shares it
held as collateral and said it’s still owed money.
Quah Su Ling sued Goldman Sachs International in London,
accusing it of breach of contract for selling her shares in
Blumont Group Ltd., Asiasons Capital Ltd. (ACAP) and LionGold Corp. and
depressing their prices. Goldman Sachs International countersued
for $12.3 million it says it’s still owed.
Goldman Sachs International sold the shares in an “orderly
and measured manner — consistent with industry practice and
accepted standards — over the course of three weeks,” the bank
said in court papers filed in London and made available this
week. The lawsuit is Quah’s “attempt to delay or avoid
repayment of debt.”
Shares of the three Singapore companies tumbled with
Asiasons falling 62 percent on Oct. 4, while Blumont declined 56
percent and LionGold was down 42 percent. Over three days from
Oct. 4, the declines erased $6.9 billion from Singapore’s bourse
value. The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the city’s stock
exchange said they would probe activities around the shares of
the companies.
Quah, the Chief Executive Officer of IPCO International
Ltd., claimed Goldman Sachs demanded she repay $48 million
within 1 1/2 hours on Oct. 2 and started selling her shares. The
bank hadn’t informed her previously of any shortfall in her
margin loan or give her reasonable time to make payment, Quah
said in court papers.
Edward Naylor, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Goldman
Sachs, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Quah didn’t respond
to two e-mails or a call to her office.
Goldman Sachs has also been sued in London by James Hong,
an executive director at Blumont. Hong claimed the bank breached
its duties by “arbitrarily” selling his shares in the three
Singapore commodity companies held as collateral, according to
the complaint.
Regulators around the world have stepped up oversight of
capital markets after the global financial crisis in 2008.
Singapore’s central bank established a 13-member council in 2010
with the goal of boosting corporate governance standards and
investor confidence. The Singapore Exchange, Southeast Asia’s
biggest bourse, said after the decline of the three stocks it
plans to add circuit breakers in 2014 to halt trading for 10
minutes when shares move 10 percent in either direction.
The case is Quah Su Ling v Goldman Sachs International.
HQ13X05341. High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrea Tan in Singapore at
atan17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Douglas Wong at
dwong19@bloomberg.net
Goldman Sachs Denies Singapore Stock Dump, Countersues
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