SEVENS Atelier : 5EW 0% and VCPlus : 43E 0% are under probe by the authorities for offences relating to the Securities and Futures Act.

Last week, Sevens Atelier said the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) had ordered it to provide various documents and information relating to the investigation on Sep 20.

These include all e-mails from the corporate e-mail accounts of Richard Koh Chye Heng, the company’s immediate former executive chairman and chief executive; Vanessa Lim Xiu Fang, its executive director; and Tang Yao Zhi, a member of its management team.

Over the weekend, VCPlus said it was ordered by the authorities to provide information and documents, including those on its business dealings with Sevens Atelier in 2021 and 2022.

Here is some background on the two companies, and their relation to each other.

What is Sevens Atelier?

The property consultancy was incorporated in Singapore in 1979 and went public on Sep 16, 2004. It provides consultancy services for the design and build of premium landed properties in Singapore and Australia.

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It was previously known by several names, including Pan Asian Water Solutions and more recently Pan Asian Holdings. It was then a piping solutions company.

The company changed its name to Sevens Atelier in June 2022 after acquiring Sevens Creation, a design and build business.

Along with the name change, the company also sold its existing businesses to former chief executive officer Koh.

A bourse filing stated that Koh was interested in acquiring the business as he wanted to retire from managing a listed company given his age of 74 years at the time, and had planned to restructure the existing business as a private entity.

Sevens Atelier’s chief executive officer is Jeffrey Hong Eng Leong, who took over from Koh in July 2022.

Vanessa Lim, the executive director, was appointed in September 2021. She is the sister of the company’s controlling shareholder, Sylvester Lim Wei Zhi.

Sylvester Lim took control of the company in June 2021 following the transfer of 56 million shares, or 26.1 per cent of the share capital, for S$3 million from the previous controlling shareholder, Xu Jia Zu Holdings.

The company has a market capitalisation of S$8.6 million. Its latest financial statement showed the company had a revenue of S$6.5 million for H2 ended Jun 30. It made a loss of S$935,000 in the same period, narrowed from S$3 million the year before.

What is VCPlus?

The Catalist-listed fintech company is an investment holding firm headquartered in Singapore. It offers consultancy services related to financial and blockchain technology.

It was first listed as Anchor Resources in 2016. At the time, the company’s main business was mining gold.

It moved into the fintech sector after obtaining shareholder approval in April 2021. It also renamed itself VCPlus after entering a joint-venture agreement with CapitalX Global and five investors.

In November 2022, VCPlus’ subsidiary, Custody Plus, received in-principle approval from MAS to provide custodial services for capital market products, including tokenised securities.

VCPlus has a market capitalisation of S$24 million.

Its executive director is Lim Beng Chew, who is under probe by the authorities. He was appointed to the board in February 2021.

In September 2021, the company acquired Apec Solutions, a management consulting and digital marketing agency, to grow its capabilities in the blockchain and fintech sector.

Apec Solutions’ head is Cedric Yap Kun Hao, who is also under investigation.

The company said Lim and Yap have each attended an interview with CAD to assist in the investigation. They have also surrendered their travel documents to the authorities.

According to its latest financial results, VCPlus had a revenue of S$202,000 in H2 ended Jun 30. It made a loss of S$658,000 in the same period, compared to a S$793,000 loss the previous year.

How are the two companies related?

In a bourse filing on Saturday (Sep 23), VCPlus said it did not have any business dealings with Sevens Atelier in 2021, and the business dealings in 2022 related to website development were immaterial.

It did not provide further details about these business dealings.

Sevens Group, the previous parent company of Sevens Atelier, is listed as a client of Apec Solutions on its website.

Checks by The Business Times show that both Sevens Atelier and VCPlus share the same company secretary.

Hong, the chief executive officer of Sevens Atelier, was also a shareholder of Custody Plus.