3 days ago
New substantial shareholders in ISOTeam, Rex International and Hiap Seng Industries
[SINGAPORE] Over the five trading sessions from Jul 18 to 24, institutions were net buyers of Singapore stocks, with net institutional inflow of S$334 million adding to the S$113 million for the preceding five sessions. The net inflow further reduces the net institutional outflow for the 2025 year till Jul 24 to S$1.35 billion.
Institutional flows
Over the five trading sessions, the stocks that had the highest net institutional inflow included DBS , Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , Singapore Airlines , Keppel , City Developments Ltd , Seatrium , Genting Singapore , Sats , Frencken Group , and Sembcorp In dustries.
Meanwhile Singtel , NTT DC Reit, Singapore Post , CapitaLand Ascott Trust , Mapletree Logistics Trust , Hongkong Land Holdings , ParkwayLife Reit , CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust , UOL Group , and Centurion Corporation led the net institutional outflow over the five sessions.
Share buybacks
During the five sessions, four primary-listed companies made buybacks with a total consideration of S$29.8 million.
UOB led the consideration tally, buying back 800,000 of its shares at an average price of S$37.07.
Secondary-listed Hongkong Land Holdings also continued to conduct share repurchases, taking the cumulative amount of buybacks to US$128 million since Apr 24.
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Director transactions
Over the five trading sessions, around 50 director interests and substantial shareholdings were filed.
Across more than 20 primary-listed stocks, directors or CEOs reported three acquisitions and no disposals, while substantial shareholders recorded nine acquisitions and six disposals.
This included Stamford Land Corporation executive chairman Ow Chio Kiat acquiring 41,000 shares at an average price of S$0.43 per share.
This purchase increased his total interest to 46.18 per cent.
Abundante executive director Lee Sai Sing bought 1,019,900 shares at S$0.14 a piece, increasing his direct interest from 56.35 per cent to 57.33 per cent.
Both share buybacks and director filings were less than the usual quota, as the local market recently began a busy period of financial reporting.
ISOTeam
The Ginko-AGT Global Growth Fund increased its direct interest in ISOTeam to above the 5 per cent substantial shareholder threshold on Jul 15.
In the transaction, 5,986,600 shares were acquired at S$0.086 apiece.
Managed by AGT Partners, the Ginko-AGT Global Growth Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in undervalued companies with strong fundamentals and executing tactical trades to enhance returns and manage volatility.
AGT Partners said that while recent US tariff uncertainty led to some tactical shifts, it sees this as temporary and remains focused on long-term value and is confident in achieving its objectives.
ISOTeam is a Singapore-based company focused on estate maintenance and building refurbishment, specialising in repairs and redecoration and addition and alteration works.
It provides integrated, eco-conscious solutions across both public and private sectors, with recurring demand driven by regulatory cycles.
The company also offers services in specialist coating, landscaping, pest control, solar installations, and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled construction technologies.
Maybank Securities head of small-mid cap research Jarick Seet recently highlighted that ISOTeam's AI drone painting solution could cut its costs by 30 to 40 per cent.
Testing is set to begin on an HDB site by September 2025, with plans to expand if successful.
On Jul 2, ISOTeam announced S$21 million in new contracts across six segments, including high-profile sites such as Tuas Terminal Gateway, Resorts World Sentosa and Orchard Gateway, with completions stretching to mid-2027.
Rex International Holding
American Century Investment increased its direct interest in Rex International Holding to above the 5 per cent substantial shareholder threshold on Jul 17.
The transaction saw 2,436,200 shares purchased at S$0.178 apiece.
Rex International Holding (Rex) has exploration and production interests in Oman, Norway, Germany and Benin, where it also operates the assets. The group uses its proprietary Rex Virtual Drilling technology to de-risk projects by identifying subsurface liquid hydrocarbons from seismic data.
In June 2025, Rex's production from Norway and Oman totalled 9,998 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
Its subsidiary Lime Petroleum contributed 8,306 boepd from the Brage and Yme Fields in Norway, where it holds 33.8 per cent and 25 per cent interests respectively.
Drilling operations on Brage included completion of both an appraisal and a production well, despite scheduled and unscheduled shut-ins.
On Jul 8, Rex announced that OKEA, the operator of its Brage Field interest, had begun drilling a new exploration well targeting untested geological layers in the southern part of the Talisker discovery.
Approved by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate on Jun 30, the well aims to assess hydrocarbon presence and define reservoir limits.
Rex stepped up from oil exploration to the next level in 2020, becoming a full-fledged oil exploration and production company, as it achieved first oil in Oman with a low-cost structure.
Its FY24 (ended Dec 31) revenue growth was driven by higher oil sales in Norway, offsetting declines in Oman due to natural production decline and drilling-related stoppages.
Its FY24 gross profit increased by 54 per cent from FY23, to US$99 million, while loss after tax narrowed by 28 per cent to US$50 million, mainly due to lower impairments.
The group highlighted that it posted a strong positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.
It also has a healthy cash flow from operations, and maintained a good cash position for FY24.
Based on recent filings, the majority of American Century Investment Management's holding in Rex International is concentrated in its Avantis International Small Cap Value exchange-traded fund (ETF).
This ETF is issued by Avantis Investors, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Century, which launched its first suite of ETFs – including the International Small Cap Value ETF – in 2019.
The ETF invests in non-US developed small-cap companies which are perceived to be trading at low valuations and show strong profitability.
Aside from Rex International Holding, as at Jun 30, the ETF's portfolio included more than 30 Singapore-listed stocks.
Among them are Yangzijiang Financial Holding, First Resources, Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, Samudera Shipping Line, Golden Agri-Resources, Geo Energy Resources, Wee Hur Holdings, CSE Global and Yanlord Land Group.
Hiap Seng Industries
On Jul 21, Chandra Asri Trading Company (Catco) became a substantial shareholder of Hiap Seng Industries , acquiring 330,158,996 shares in a married deal at S$0.008 per share.
This purchase increased the company's direct interest from 4.5 per cent to 11.87 per cent.
Hiap Seng Industries provides integrated mechanical engineering, plant fabrication, installation and maintenance services for oil and gas, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical sectors across Asia-Pacific and beyond.
For its FY25 (ended Mar 31), the company's revenue declined by S$2.1 million due to reduced maintenance and shutdown activity.
Other gains fell by S$16.6 million, mainly from the absence of a one-off S$19.3 million debt waiver recognised in FY24.
Despite this, operating profit rose by S$2.2 million to S$4.1 million, driven by cost control and efficiency.
Chandra Asri is a South-east Asian provider of energy, chemical and infrastructure solutions.
It serves domestic as well as international manufacturing industries.
It co-founded the Aster Group with Glencore, operating a 237,000 barrel per day refinery and a 1.1 million tonne naphtha cracker on Bukom Island.
Additional assets include 2.5 million tonnes of downstream chemical facilities on Jurong Island and a 900,000 tonne naphtha cracker in Cilegon.
The business is supported by core infrastructure such as energy, water, electricity, jetty and tank farm facilities.
Siam Cement, through its 99.99 per cent ownership of SCG Chemicals, holds a 30.57 per cent stake in Chandra Asri Pacific, which fully owns Catco – giving Siam Cement a deemed interest in all the Hiap Seng Industries shares held by Catco.
The writer is the market strategist at Singapore Exchange (SGX). To read SGX's market research reports, visit
