GSG Capital director fined for insider trading 

Prior to announcing the acquisition of GreatSolutions, Tay Joo Heng bought 515,000 shares in its parent firm, GS Holdings. 

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed a civil penalty of $70,000 on Tay Joo Heng for insider trading in the shares of GS Holdings Limited, following an investigation it conducted alongside the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).

MAS said Tay Joo Heng, sole shareholder and director of GSG Capital, admitted that he breached insider trading rules in relation to the purchase of shares in GS Holdings in November 2019. Tay has paid the civil penalty without court action.

GSG Capital on 19 November 2019 entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with GS Holdings to buy its wholly-owned subsidiary, GreatSolutions, for $2m. Trading activity spiked in GS Holdings the next trading day. 

While in possession of material non-public information relating to GS Holdings’ intended sale of its loss-making unit GreatSolutions, Tay bought a total of 515,000 GS Holdings shares over a period of 13 days from 4 Oct to 18 Nov 2019, according to MAS.

“Mr Tay held the view that the market would react positively to the news and anticipated that GHL’s share price would rise," it said.