Tan quits as chairman of troubled Ports Design

The founding chairman of Ports Design, Edward Tan Han Kiat, resigned on May 18 from the troubled Hong Kong-listed company.

Ports admitted last night that it failed to disclose it made loans to him and hundreds of millions of yuan of loans to related firms.

Edward Tan and his brother, chief executive Alfred Chan Kai Tai, jointly own 41.55 per cent of the branded garment firm. The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation owns 7.26 per cent, and JPMorgan Chase owns 8.9 per cent.

In 2010, CPAX, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ports, made three interest-free loans totalling four million yuan (HK$4.9 million) to Tan, and last year, CPAX made two loans totalling 30 million yuan to Tan with an effective interest rate of 6.56 per cent a year, Ports said. The loans to Tan in 2010 were to set up a charity fund for the poor in China, while the loans last year were to enable him to set up an internet shopping website on the mainland that he controls, Ports said.

As Tan is a connected person of the company, all loans should have been announced earlier, Ports said.

From 2010 to May last year, Ports made interest-free loans to Ports International Enterprises Ltd (PIEL), which is owned half by Chan and half by Tan, and Ports 1961, a company linked to both men, Ports disclosed. The loans to PIEL totalled 276.27 million yuan, while those to Ports 1961 totalled 31.65 million yuan. During this period, Ports also made interest-free loans of 4.51 million yuan to Ports of Knightsbridge Ltd (PKL), which is wholly owned by Yue Tsang Ming, a nephew of Tan and Chan.