Asia/Pacific News
Singapore Power Couple with Bunker Interests in Legal Spat with Siblings
A Singapore power couple with bunker interests, Ong Beng Seng and his wife Christina Ong, are being sued by Mrs. Ong's siblings, Peter Fu Chong Cheng and Juanita Fu, local media reports.
The Fus claim the couple have failed to honour a share swap allegedly agreed upon in May 2014, which they say would have seen the Ongs divest their 40 percent share in oil trading and investment holding firm Kuo International (Private) Ltd. (Kuo) to the Fus.
The Kuo businesses include Kuo Oil S Pte Ltd, also known as Kuo International Bunkering.
The deal, meant to facilitate the parting of ways between the Fus and the Ongs, is also said to have intended to have seen the Fu siblings transfer their 16.3 percent stake of Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) to the Ongs.
Defence papers are said to show that the Ongs have maintained that there was no legally binding agreement between the two parties and the share swap deal itself is unfair, with the Kuo shares involved in the proposed transfer said to be worth about $500 million more than the HPL shares.
The Fus say that Ong had indicated in meeting on May 4, 2014, that he "felt trapped in Kuo," and was "willing to disentangle 'on any terms' and 'without the need for any valuation' that Peter and Juanita may set."
As a result, the share swap arrangement is said to have been proposed by the Fus, who hold that Mr. Ong was "amenable to the idea."
Ong is further noted to have wanted a "comprehensive settlement of 'everything', that is, ... the unwinding and distribution of the parties' major business interests and assets in Singapore and abroad."
In January, Ship & Bunker reported that Kuo Oil, was looking to load a total of 120,000 tonnes of fuel oil form Iran.
